One Last Mystery
by LordTrinen
Summary: Sequel to "One Last Push". Max and Chloe are happily settling in to their new lives together in this new reality. Everything is perfect...until they notice something very strange happening at Blackwell Academy. One last mystery stands in their way before they can truly get on with their lives. But will they emerge unscathed?
1. Chapter 1

[Disclaimer]

"Life is Strange" is the property of DONTNOD Entertainment and Square-Enix

This is a work of fan-fiction and 100% non-canon

 **One Last Mystery – Chapter 1**

Perfection.

What _is_ perfection?

I don't know if I can define it. But I think I found it.

One sunny October morning in Arcadia Bay, I listened to the hum and sputtering of Chloe's truck as it zoomed through the streets. Inside I sat looking out the window, gazing out at the shining sun. But nothing shone brighter than the expressions on Chloe's face and mine.

Chloe and I were quietly smiling, our faces beaming with joy and satisfaction. I turned my head to look at Chloe. At that same moment she glanced out of the corner of her eye at me. Our gazes met and I slid my hand across the seat towards her. She took one hand off the wheel and did the same. Our fingers touched and my hand slid into hers. I squeezed it gently and Chloe let out a small giggle. Chloe was so cute. It has been a long time since I heard Chloe giggle. Well, if you excluded last night anyway.

We had just shared our first night together. Not as friends, but as lovers. It was the culmination of what was perhaps the most bizarre love story ever told.

It all started a week ago when I saw Chloe Price, my childhood best friend, get shot and killed. At that moment I discovered I had the power to rewind time. What followed was a temporal odyssey that ended with a choice. My powers had the side effect of causing a massive storm that was about to wipe out Arcadia Bay, my hometown. The only way to stop it was to go back in time and let Chloe die. I had to choose to either do that or allow the town to be destroyed so that Chloe may live. No other choice existed…until I created one.

This adventure showed me how much I loved Chloe. I loved her so much that I almost tore time and reality apart to save her. My powers helped me again and again to save her and others, constantly evolving to new heights and giving me new abilities. But at that moment they appeared useless to save Chloe again. Until I forced my powers to a new level, granting me the ability to completely Rewrite time as I saw fit. And rewrote it I did.

In this new timeline so many miraculous things had happened. Rachel Amber never went to the Vortex Club party where she would have been kidnapped, sparing her life. Dana Ward caught Nathan Prescott while he was attempting to drug Kate Marsh, leading to his arrest and later Mark Jefferson's arrest. To my great relief, the storm never happened in this timeline. And to my greater surprise, Chloe and I had become an item. Chloe and I both retained our memories of everything that transpired in the old timeline. We could not remember the circumstances that led us to be together here but we decided to pursue it. And after our first night together, we were glad we did.

We came to a stop in front of Blackwell. We wanted to spend more time together today. But I still had classes. And Chloe had work to do too. We talked a great deal about our plans for the future. After we completely settled into this new timeline, how would we move forward together? I would of course continue my education at Blackwell. Chloe made it very clear she wanted me to keep reaching for my dream of being a photographer. She wasn't about to make me drop out! As for her, she has resolved to clean up her act. She announced plans to get a job so she wouldn't have to keep borrowing money off the likes of Frank and maybe find ways to continue her own education. It was doubtful Blackwell would ever accept her back but she could look into other options. She would still be the punk Chloe I fell in love with but she would stop living so dangerously, for both of our sakes. I don't have my powers anymore so I can't bail her out of dangerous situations again. Chloe was determined to start making the right decisions now. And after I graduated from Blackwell we planned to play it by ear.

The future is scary. But I was ready to face it with Chloe.

"Take it easy today, Max," she said to me as I put my hand on the door handle. I looked her in the eye. We were still holding hands. She squeezed my palm and took hold of my other hand. She smiled and gave me a 'come hither' look. It was my turn to giggle as I slowly leaned closer. She leaned as well and we kissed.

Nothing made me happier than kissing Chloe. It touched something deep inside me, stirring a warmth in my heart that only made me love Chloe more. No matter what would happen to me, I'd never forget the warmth and softness of her lips…

We separated and I wished Chloe good luck on her job hunt today. She grinned and shooed me out of the car, not wanting me to be late. I watched and waved as she drove off. Nearby I saw Justin and some of his friends watching me. Did they see me and Chloe kiss? I blushed for a moment, slightly embarrassed realizing that we had an audience, but I pushed those feelings aside. No need to be embarrassed! Chloe and I were an item and if they had a problem with that they could go to hell!

But Justin and the others seemed OK. They smiled and waved as I passed by and I waved back. Time to start my day!

Thankfully things so far in this new timeline were not too radically different. Of course I shouldn't have expected things to change TOO much. Arcadia Bay was still where it was supposed to be and so was the photography classroom, my first class of the day. Not that it was much of a class anymore.

Every chance I got this morning I poured through my journal to try and familiarize myself with as many details about this new timeline as I could. One thing I noted was how my photography class had become little more than a study hall since Jefferson's arrest. Until they could find a suitable replacement Principal Wells assigned another teacher, Mr. Smith, to oversee the class and make sure we were using this time to study if nothing else. Sounded dull but it would give me time to think.

Most of my classmates were already there. Alyssa, Haden and Taylor were already in their seats and texting away on their phones. Only Alyssa looked up briefly to acknowledge my arrival. Stella sat at her desk going through her notes, as usual, and Daniel was scribbling away in his notepad. The only one who paid any real attention to me was Kate. I saw her expression as I first walked in, looking a bit distant and sad. But she quickly perked up when she noticed me. She waved and I waved back. Class was about to start so we didn't have time to talk. I hurried to my seat and got my supplies out, more out of habit than anything. Not like I would be taking notes today.

As we waited for Mr. Smith to arrive, I suddenly noticed Victoria was missing. The arrests of Nathan and Jefferson really shocked Victoria. They changed her and apparently we were becoming friends in this timeline. Haven't had a chance to talk to her and test that for myself yet though. I wondered where she was and if she was still reeling from it all. For the first time ever, I actually hoped that she was alright.

The bell rang and Mr. Smith walked in. He reminded us all to be quiet and focus on our studies, adding that the search for a new photography teacher was still ongoing. He sat at Jefferson's old desk and went to work on his laptop. Taylor and the others reluctantly put their phones away and pulled out their school books. I took out my biology book, needing to brush up on this subject. The next 20 minutes passed in relative silence. Taylor tried to discretely text under the table, snorting every now and then as she held back her laughter at someone's joke. But she kept looking up at Victoria's chair and eyeing it worryingly. She wasn't the only one. Kate's eyes kept darting back and forth between Victoria's chair and the clock. Victoria was becoming friends with both Kate and I so it wasn't surprising that she was concerned. Kate is so sweet!

After a while there was a knock on the door and another teacher poked her head in, asking Mr. Smith for his help with something. He left but not before reminding us to keep studying and keep our phones off.

As if.

As soon as he was gone all phones came out. People started chatting and studying was the last thing on anyone's mind. Naturally I lost interest in studying as well. Instead I took an interest in Kate. She still seemed sad and distracted. She looked like she could use some cheering up. I got up and walked over to her, making sure to keep a smile on my face.

"Hi Kate," I said gently as I approached. The warm smile that I loved returned to her face and she greeted me back.

"How are you doing today?" I asked.

"I'm fine, Max. Thanks for asking," she replied simply. I gave her a concerned look.

"Are you sure? You seem kind of down. Everything alright?"

Kate shuffled in her seat for a few moments. Her eyes darted around as though looking for something. Eventually she said, "I'm just…a little worried about Victoria. She's supposed to be here by now."

So she _was_ worried about Victoria. I had guessed right. I opened my mouth to say something comforting to her but my chest tightened with panic when I heard the door open. Mr. Smith was back! I hurried to my seat and everyone else quickly put their stuff away. But they all sighed and shook their heads when they saw that it was Victoria.

Victoria stepped inside and stood at the front of the class, looking around at everyone with a soft smile. Nobody said anything to her or even really acknowledge her. Her eyes met Kate's and her smile widened. She gave Kate a small nod which Kate returned. She then looked at me.

Something seemed…off…about Victoria. It took me a moment but I figured out what it was. It was her clothes. Victoria came from a wealthy family and her wardrobe always reflected it. Expensive cashmere sweaters, gold jewelry, everything about her attire reminded people of her wealth. But not today. She didn't have a single piece of jewelry on her. And rather than her usual clothes she was dressed more…common. She wore plain khaki pants, a yellow polo shirt and simple black shoes. Overall her outfit looked like something she picked up at a local thrift store, not the usual boutiques she likely shopped at normally.

And it wasn't just her clothes. It was her eyes. The look she gave me…was hard to describe. She was looking at me but her eyes almost seemed to look through me. Like she wasn't really seeing me at all. This wasn't like the old Victoria who would look through you because she thought you were beneath her. This was something very different.

She stood there with her books in her arms, looking like a dedicated student. She continued to smile at me as though waiting for a response. I smiled back and she seemed content with that. She moved to her chair and sat down, spreading out her books and opening them up to study. Taylor looked up at from her phone, briefly glancing at Victoria before doing a quick double-take. Her eyes widened when she saw Victoria's attire.

"Victoria?!" she said, astounded.

Victoria looked up innocently from her books. "Yes, Taylor? Something wrong?" she asked.

Taylor looked at her like that was a stupid question. Of course there was something wrong! No doubt the words "fashion emergency" were flashing across Taylor's mind.

"Why are you wearing something so…cheap?! Didn't you once tell me that you wouldn't be caught dead in polyester?"

Victoria was silent for a while. She turned her head so I couldn't see her expression that well. When she turned back to Taylor she was smiling again.

"I've decided I need a change in my life. The simple things are all I need now. Just the simple things…"

Her tone was very calm and polite, speaking in a clear and concise voice without a hint of condescension. I don't think I've ever heard Victoria talk like this before. Taylor opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the return of Mr. Smith. He noted Victoria's presence and told everyone to get back to studying.

The rest of the study hall was quiet. I did as much studying as I could but I kept getting distracted by Victoria. Not because she was noisy or anything but rather by how quiet and studious she was. She kept her nose in the books and never pulled her phone out once. Taylor noticed her odd behavior too and even shot me a confused look. I could only shrug.

As soon as the bell rang Victoria promptly packed up her books and walked out of the classroom without a word. Taylor grabbed her things and gave chase, no doubt determined to get to the bottom of things. I took my time gathering my stuff. It would be a couple more hours until my next class. I decided to go back to my dorm room for a while. I still needed to catch up on this timeline. Time to scrounge my room for clues! When I stepped out into the hall I immediately saw Taylor and Victoria. Taylor looked extremely frustrated while Victoria was surprisingly calm. I missed most of their conversation but I caught the tail end of it. Victoria invited Taylor up to her room later to talk more. She then said she needed to get to her next class and hurried off.

Taylor still looked stunned. She clearly wasn't satisfied with that and took off after her, determined to talk to her more. I watched them both go. Took me a few moments to realize Kate was standing right next to me, also watching them leave.

"Do you know how long Victoria has been…like _that?_ " I asked her. Kate simply shrugged.

"Losing your best friend and hero the way she did can be traumatizing. I'd say she's using it to make some positive changes in her life. I'm rather proud of her."

Kate gave me a warm, encouraging smile and walked off. I suppose that made sense. Still creepy though.

I shrugged it off and left for my dorm room.

As autumn marched on the days got chillier and chillier. I quite liked it. I walked through campus grinning ear to ear, watching everyone going about their day to day lives. I was happy to see the smiling faces of my classmates, even the ones I didn't know. I was even happy to see the upset ones. For I knew that however bad they felt now, at least they were all alive.

And speaking of being alive…

Rachel Amber was sitting on the front steps of the dorm. Like when I saw her in Chloe's room, she was texting away on her phone. She looked up as I approached and smiled when she saw it was me.

"Max!" she greeted warmly. "It's about time! I was starting to think you had forgotten."

Uh oh.

What did I forget?

I panicked. I tried to think of something to say. But I guess I took too long because Rachel's expression turned sour.

"You _did_ forget, didn't you?"

I hung my head in shame.

"Sorry…" I squeaked out.

But then Rachel laughed.

"Don't sweat it, Max! It's not a big deal. You're here now and we can get started."

She stood up and turned to enter the dorm. I asked her what exactly we were going to start. She turned to me and grinned.

"Why my photo shoot, of course!"

Prior to my "arrival" I had apparently made arrangements with Rachel to do a photo shoot with her. As an aspiring model she needed practice posing for the camera. And I needed practice taking pictures.

It happened in my room. Almost as soon as we got inside Rachel jumped onto my bed and struck a pose. She sat sitting up, one leg stretched out and the other bent. She leaned back on one hand and rested the other on her raised knee. Her smile was absolutely beautiful. Her face almost seemed to glow because of it, so vibrant and full of life. I finally understood why Chloe felt drawn to her. I dropped my bag and took out my camera. I took careful aim and snapped my first picture. This was one for my journal!

The next two hours went surprisingly fast. Rachel struck pose after pose, looking like a real model. I tried my best to capture her beauty with each picture. Quite the challenge it was. I remember Evan took some really good pictures of Rachel before. I'll have to ask him for some tips! I took so many pictures that I ran out of film. All my spares were in the photography classroom so we called it quits.

But Rachel didn't leave right away. She stayed and we talked and laughed. Rachel talked all about her big plans of one day moving to Los Angeles. She has a cousin who works for a talent agency down there. She'd use this connection to get her first jobs. She knew the road would be rough but she was prepared to weather it. There was a fierce determination in her eyes when she spoke. Deep down I wondered if I had that same look when I did the Rewrite. I had trouble getting a word in but I didn't mind. I smiled the entire time I listened to her. Rachel really was special.

Rachel eventually grew tired of talking and laid down on my couch. I turned on some soft music and we both relaxed. I laid on my bed and kept staring at Rachel. In a way, I was kind of grateful for that nightmare Chloe and I endured. Without it, I questioned if I would ever have wooed her away from Rachel. I'm amazed my alt-self managed to do it at all! But thinking about the past of this timeline, one small question started to bug me. It would seem like an odd question but I had to investigate it.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah?"

She looked over at me, calm and smiling. I smiled back. Hard not to.

"There was a…Vortex Club party on campus a number of weeks ago. Do you remember it?"

She cocked an eyebrow at me.

"Could you be more specific? The club threw a lot of parties here. Not anymore though…"

Her expression turned a little sour, clearly remember the events that brought the Vortex Club crashing down.

"You've been to a lot of them, right? This was actually one you _didn't_ go to. Do you remember it?"

I was referring to the party where Rachel was originally kidnapped in the old timeline. I knew it didn't really matter but I was still curious how she managed to avoid it. Why didn't she go to the party in this timeline? Rachel had to think about this for a moment but then it dawned on her.

"Oh yeah. I do remember one party I didn't go to around that time. Why?"

"I'm just…curious. Curious as to why you didn't go. You always went to them didn't you?"

"Yeah, but…"

Rachel shrugged.

"That night…I just didn't want to. Thinking back…I'm not sure why. I thought about going to the party but then I decided…I wanted to hang with Chloe. I went to her place, we lit up and I really don't remember what all we did after that."

She laughed at the memory. I grinned softly. Whatever the reason was, I was glad it happened. Rachel and everyone else was alive.

Perfection.

Pure perfection…

I eventually had to shoo Rachel from my room. It was almost time for my next class. She bid me farewell and left, saying that she was going to meet up with Chloe later. I was of course invited to hang with them, as always. I told her that it would depend on how much homework I had and pushed her from the room. We both laughed and she walked down the hall to her room. I grabbed my things and followed soon after.

As I exited my room, Victoria's door opened. Taylor stepped out and closed the door behind her. She looked at me. She looked at me very…strangely. There was a look in her eye that felt oddly familiar. But I couldn't quite place it. She saw me and smiled softly.

"Hello, Max," she greeted in a clear and polite tone. I actually felt a shiver run down my spine.

"Um…hi, Taylor," I greeted back.

"How are you this fine day?" she asked, still in that same tone. I was starting to get confused. We saw each other only a couple hours ago. Why was she asking this?

"I'm…fine, Taylor. Are you feeling alright?"

Her smile widened.

"Of course, Max. I couldn't be happier. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go change. I need to wear something…simpler…"

She walked off and I watched her disappear into my room. That chill lingered long after she had gone. Why was Taylor acting so strangely all of a sudden?

Moments later Victoria emerged from her room, her arms filled with books. She quickly strolled past but took a moment to remind me that our next class was about to begin. I panicked. I completely forgot about that! I gripped by book bag and ran out of the dorm.

 _ **To be continued…**_


	2. Chapter 2

[Disclaimer]

"Life is Strange" is the property of DONTNOD Entertainment and Square-Enix

This is a work of fan-fiction and 100% non-canon

 **One Last Mystery – Chapter 2**

 _*Whirrrr! Whirrrr! Whirrrr!*_

 _*Beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep! Beep, beep, beep!*_

"Ugh…"

I groaned and rolled over at the sound of my phone vibrating and beeping on my bedside table. It was time to get up but I really didn't want to. I stayed up late cramming for a test last night. My head was throbbing enough from all the math formulas I was trying to shove in there. The last thing I wanted was a throbbing head from a homework hangover. I reached over to turn off my phone. My fingers brushed against it…and knocked it to the floor.

"Damn it…" I muttered groggily.

I cracked open my eyes enough to see where my phone had landed. Naturally it bounced quite a ways away from the bed, still beeping and vibrating loudly. It was too far away to reach from the bed. Not without falling out anyway. The universe was telling me it was time to get out of bed.

"Damn you algebra…"

I got up and grabbed my phone, finally turning off that incessant alarm. I let out a big yawn and almost plopped back down into bed before I noticed that I had several unread text messages. I opened them up and my grogginess vanished when I saw they were from Chloe. All of them came in after I went to sleep.

 **Chloe:** Hey grl

 **Chloe:** What r u wearing?

 **Chloe:** You asleep?

 **Chloe:** Got room in that bed for one more? ;)

 **Chloe:** Yes that was an emoji

 **Chloe:** Talk 2 u later

I grinned giddily. It was so embarrassing the way Chloe was flirting! But I loved it. I was really kicking myself for missing out on them. Fortunately I had plans to meet with Chloe later today. I'd make up for it then.

I didn't have any classes today so I had a whole day of freedom ahead of me. My plans to meet with Chloe were for this afternoon. This morning I had another appointment. It was my first tea session with Kate in this new reality. And this time we invited Victoria.

Still so strange to think of the three of us being friends. I called Victoria "evil" on so many occasions and her bullying greatly contributed to Kate's suicide attempt in the old timeline. But Victoria was supposed to be different here. If her behavior yesterday was any indication, she was _really_ different here! It would be wrong not to give her a chance.

I got dressed and went outside. A cool breeze greeted me and made me shiver but the warm sun kept the October chill at bay. I smiled and waved when I saw Kate. She was already prepared for our tea session. Kate wanted to make it a picnic this time. She had laid out a yellow blanket in the grass under the gaze of the Tobanga statue. From a small picnic basket she was pulling out several tea cups and a thermos full of hot tea. She started pouring it as I walked up.

Kate greeted me with the warm smile I loved so much from her. She invited me to sit down and offered me the first cup of tea. I asked if we should wait for Victoria before starting.

"Don't worry. She should be here any minute now. We're both a bit early," she reminded me.

I took her word for it and accepted her tea cup. I took a sip and moaned contently. This was good! Kate always made the best tea. I complimented her and Kate blushed a little before pouring herself a cup. As she took a sip herself, I could hear someone approach. I turned and saw Victoria approaching us, right on time as Kate predicted. But she wasn't alone.

My jaw dropped a little when I saw Courtney and Taylor flanking Victoria. Normally this wasn't an unusual sight. But what struck me as odd was their clothing. Victoria was dressed in a blue short-sleeve polo shirt like last time but now with a khaki skirt. Taylor gave Victoria a hard time about this "fashion emergency" just yesterday. But now she was wearing almost identical clothing! Her and Courtney!

All three women wore gentle smiles as they quietly approached the picnic. When they reached us they all very politely greeted me and Kate.

"I hope you don't mind but I invited Courtney and Taylor to join us. Is that alright?" Victoria asked Kate. Kate smiled and gently nodded.

"Of course! The more the merrier. I've got extra tea cups and tea!"

I scooted over to make room for the three of them as Kate pulled out two more tea cups and an extra thermos. Everyone took their drinks and this little tea party began. Overall it was very pleasant. Everyone spent the first few minutes sipping their tea and savoring the flavor. Victoria, Courtney and Taylor all politely complimented Kate on it, to which Kate thanked them with a slight blush in her cheeks. The initial tasting was followed by pleasant conversation. We discussed classes and how fine the weather was today. We discussed the pending Halloween party and how it was shaping up to be a big affair. Kate brought up her Bible study group and encouraged Victoria and her friends to join. When Kate said this Victoria, Courtney and Taylor all seemed to freeze. There was an odd look in their eyes that lasted for only a brief moment. When it passed they all smiled and agreed to come, saying it sounded like it would be a fun experience. Kate smiled and went back to sipping her tea.

Overall this was a very pleasant gathering. Everyone was having a good time. Except for me. I was quietly freaking out.

My eyes were wide with shock as I listened to Victoria and her minions discuss things like class like it was a regular conversation topic for them. Granted I wasn't completely familiar with this "new" Victoria yet but the Victoria I knew would only talk about class to complain about it. And when they actually agreed to attend Kate's Bible study group my brain felt ready to short-circuit.

"Has Victoria really changed _this_ much?!" I wondered. Even if the arrests of Nathan and Jefferson hit Victoria this hard, it didn't explain why Courtney and Taylor were suddenly so different. Especially since they appeared to be their ordinary selves just yesterday. Something very strange was going on here.

"Hey Kate?" I said softly, gently jerking my head to have Kate lean in closer. With a look of concern she did so and asked what was wrong.

"Is it just me or are they acting very…strange?" I asked softly, indicating Victoria and the others. The three of them didn't seem to hear me, lost in their own conversation. Kate watched the three of them chatter for a bit and then simply shrugged.

"They have been acting differently, yes," Kate conceded. "But I think it's a good different. Don't you?"

I pulled away without answering. I didn't know why but I felt the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It was a "good different" in a way but still…

"It was so freaky!" I stated to Warren a few hours later. Warren and I were sitting on the edge of the fountain outside the school. I had gone there for my afternoon hookup with Chloe. Chloe was running a little late and I found Warren sitting by himself, texting on his phone. He was more than happy to talk to me and invited me to sit with him. He quickly picked up that something was wrong and asked me what was up. I couldn't hold it in any longer and let it all out.

"It was so freaky!" I repeated. "Victoria and the others were just so…prim and proper! I swear I saw Victoria extend her pinky when drinking her tea. I never thought I'd see a person change _that_ drastically! I mean…" I hesitated. I had to be careful what I said right now. Didn't want to give away that I was a stranger in this timeline.

"What do you think, Warren?" I asked. "Do you think Victoria has been acting odd lately? Her and Courtney and Taylor."

Warren shrugged but nodded. "Yeah, I noticed Victoria acting weird. I thought it was just that whole Jefferson fiasco. Everyone around here got thrown for a loop by that." I started to nod in agreement but stopped when Warren continued. "Whatever happened to Victoria must be contagious though. Like you said, Courtney and Taylor have changed too. And earlier I saw Logan acting weird."

"Logan? What's wrong with that jock?" I asked.

"He's suddenly very…nice," Warren said simply. "Just a few days ago I saw someone drop a stack of papers as he was walking by. The old Logan I knew would probably kick some of the papers across the hall just for laughs. But this time he actually stopped to help! He picked them up and took the time to help sort them all. It's like he got a big bite from that 'niceness bug' that Victoria got."

That really _was_ weird. For someone whose favorite pastime was bullying, pretty much any act of kindness from Logan was bizarre. Warren's phone beeped as he got a new text message. He read it with his brow furrowed and texted back. When he was done he said he had to leave. I promised to hang out with him again later and waved goodbye.

I stayed by the fountain after he left. Chloe should be arriving any second. And sure enough, Chloe's truck eventually pulled up in front of the school. She honked to get my attention and kept honking with a big grin on her face as I approached.

"Hurry up, slowpoke!" she yelled out the window. We both grinned as I neared the truck. As I opened the door to climb in Chloe suddenly called out Trevor's name.

I turned and saw Trevor and Dana walking by and holding hands. They looked very happy together. It made me smile. I wondered if Chloe and I looked like that when we went walking through town together. They stopped for a moment to talk to the two of us.

"On your way out?" Dana asked. I nodded. We didn't have any set plans. We were just going to hang out for a while. We weren't sure where yet.

"Just going to wing it, huh? I can think of worse dates," Dana teased. I blushed. I still had trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that Chloe and I were actually dating in this new universe. I wasn't sure how to respond but thankfully Chloe came to my rescue.

"What about you two? What are you up to?" she asked them.

"We're just going to hang out in my room for a while," Trevor jumped in. "Got a new video game I want to show Dana. Got some new CDs too."

I spied Trevor squeezing Dana's hand. I suspected that they were going to be doing a lot more than playing video games and listening to music in the privacy of his dorm room. Chloe must have come to this same conclusion too based on her following statement.

"Yeah, I bet," she said dismissively. "Don't forget to use condoms!"

"CHLOE!" I shrieked. I was taken aback by her brazen statement. Fortunately Trevor and Dana took it in stride. Trevor grinned, Dana laughed and both blushed. Dana's phone beeped and she pulled away to check her text messages. Trevor took this opportunity to joke with Chloe a bit. When Dana returned she told him that she needed to stop somewhere before they went back to his room. They bid farewell and we went our separate ways. Trevor and Dana walked back to the dorms and Chloe and I pulled away in Chloe's truck.

Chloe asked me where I would like to go first. Truthfully there were several places I would like to visit. But for right now I told her to just drive. Drive around town, I told her. I thought Chloe might ask why but she didn't. She knew what I wanted to see. She gently pressed her foot on the brake to slow the truck down just enough that we could take in the scenery. She smiled softly and glanced over at me. I did not return it because my eyes were on something else.

I wanted to see Arcadia Bay. I wanted to see the town, the coast, the stores. I wanted to see everything. After seeing so much of the town in ruins just days prior I needed to see it all again intact and undamaged. I like to think Chloe needed to see it too. That's why she did not complain or object.

For the next hour we drove circles around the town. Arcadia Bay wasn't very big so we were able to cover most of it in that time. It was so beautiful. I eventually realized that I was smiling the whole time I was looking out the window. Without tearing my gaze away from the horizon I rested my hand on the seat, palm up and inviting Chloe to take it. She did. She squeezed my hand and I felt tears well up in my eyes as it all sunk in again.

Chloe was safe. Arcadia Bay was safe. There were no more dangers left in this town. Nothing we needed to fear…

Eventually we stopped for gas and for a bite at the Two Whales Diner. We walked in hand-in-hand and Joyce beamed when she saw the two of us. Chloe had told me that Joyce was aware of our relationship and was so pleased that we were happy together. She served us right away and even slipped a little extra onto our plates when she brought out food. For the first time I did not hear Chloe and Joyce have a single argument the entire time they were together.

Next we went to the junkyard. I expected us to sit alone in Chloe's hideout and reminisce about the first time we were there together. We would steer clear of the train tracks this time, of course. But our plans to a twist when we found an unexpected guest already in the hideout.

"Rachel!"

Chloe was positively giddy when we found Rachel lounging about inside, dressed in the same kind of punk clothes I borrowed from her before and listening to music. Rachel jumped up and hugged Chloe when we came in, admittedly making me feel a bit jealous. I remembered how strongly Chloe felt towards Rachel in the original timeline. The "Other" Chloe chose me over her in this timeline but things were different now. Did I have anything to worry about?

I stayed quiet and the two of them talked. I noticed that the hideout had several noticeable changes from before. There were signs of my influence in the décor. I remembered how the two of them had written "Chloe was here" and "Rachel was here" on the wall. I added my own name after the fact when I first came. But this time it said "Max, Chloe and Rachel were here" all in a combination of our handwritings. There were also several photographs stuck to the walls, all taken with an instant camera. They were _my_ photos! I realized I had been here since the get-go.

I was so lost in thought that I didn't realize that Chloe and Rachel were now trying to include me in the conversation. Whatever they were asking me it went in one ear and out the other. But when Chloe gently squeezed my hand I quickly dropped back down to Earth.

"Wha?!" I exclaimed. They both laughed at me. I smiled sheepishly and squeezed Chloe's hand back. I turned to look at her at the same moment I opened my mouth to speak. But when I looked into Chloe's eyes, all words escaped me. Her beautiful blue eyes were so…bright. Paired with her smile her whole face seemed to glow. She was so happy now. Rachel was alive and we were all together. After seeing Chloe in so much pain, no words could describe how happy it made me to see her like this.

I found myself leaning closer to Chloe. Chloe was leaning in too. What was I going to do? Was I going to kiss her? I think I was. I wanted to. I think Chloe did too. Her lips were moist and shining in the light. I remembered how wonderful they felt our first night together. My lips pressed against hers. Along with…

"Ahem!"

In the heat of the moment, we completely forgot that Rachel was still here. She was leaning forward, her fingers locked together with her chin resting on her hands. She was watching us both with the most mischievous smile you could imagine.

"Want me to step outside for a little bit?" she teased. "Do the two lovebirds want to get loud and naked in here?"

"RACHEL!" I practically screamed, my face on fire from embarrassment. I couldn't believe it but a part of me really did wonder how far we would have gone if she hadn't interrupted. There was so much…energy between us. I couldn't resist!

Rachel and Chloe both laughed. "I'm just teasing, Max!" Rachel said. But I was still embarrassed and whispered a sheepish apology. Rachel started to say something, no doubt to tease me more, but then her eyes lit up like she just had an idea. Base on the smile that followed, it was a very twisted one.

"I'll accept your apology…under one condition," she said with a sly grin. "I'll let it pass…if you finish what you started! But let me watch!"

Chloe and I both froze at that.

"You're…saying you want to watch us…" Chloe started to say, having trouble finding the words to finish.

"Kiss, silly!" Rachel finished for her. "How perverted do you think I am?!"

Chloe and I both sighed with relief. Chloe followed up with a laugh while my chest tightened again. Even if it was just a kiss, I wasn't sure if I was comfortable yet with having an audience. But then…

"Sure thing!" Chloe said. Next thing I knew she turned my head to face her and she kissed me. For a split second I had the impulse to pull away. It faded as quickly as it came and my eyes fluttered shut. I gently placed my hand on the back of Chloe's head as I moaned softly, overwhelmed by the softness of her lips against mine…the warmth of her breath on my face…and Chloe's sweet smell. Chloe slid her hand around my waist and pulled me closer. I didn't fight it. I rested my other arm on her back and hugged her as this wonderful kiss seemed to drag on forever. Our little paradise was broken briefly by a bright flash of light and the whir of a camera. Rachel had taken this opportunity to snap a picture of us with my camera. She giggled as she shook the photo to help it develop and went back to watching us.

I no longer cared that we had an audience. I was so happy to be with Chloe. I loved her. I loved her so much. I vowed that nothing ever again would keep us apart. Chloe and I were to be together…forever…

Later Chloe and I returned to Blackwell Academy. We had our fun on the town and we decided to chill in my room for a while. Our laughter echoed through the stairwell and Chloe held open the door at the top of the steps while giving a deep bow.

"After you, milady," she said in a deep, masculine voice.

"Why thank you, sir!" I said in a cutesy voice, holding back a giggle. She snorted and we both laughed again as we hurried onto my dorm room floor. Halfway down the hall I heard a door open behind us. I casually glanced over my shoulder to see who it was and spotted Dana coming out of her room. I didn't give her much thought at first, turning back to Chloe. But something nagged at me in the back of my mind and prompted me to turn and look again.

"Dana?" I called out. Chloe stopped to look too and her eyes widened in shock.

"Holy shit!" she exclaimed upon seeing Dana.

When last we saw her, Dana was wearing her usual makeup, a pair of ripped jeans and a low cut top so we could see some of her cleavage. Not too much to appear slutty but enough to make her look sexy. But now the makeup was gone. Her face was plain and so was her attire. She was wearing a simple khaki skirt and white blouse. She was walking down the hall with books in her arms when I called out to her. She turned and smiled at us. It was a very familiar smile…one that sent chills down my spine.

"Hello Max! Hello Chloe! How are you this afternoon?" she greeted warmly. She approached us, her back as straight as an arrow and overall had the feel of a very studious schoolgirl. She carried that same smile the entire way. And when she got close enough I could clearly see her eyes.

Those eyes…

They seemed alert but also…empty. Like Dana wasn't all there. I had seen eyes like that too many times lately.

"Did you enjoy your day on the town?" Dana asked, speaking in a very clear and polite tone. Chloe looked at her like she was a freak but I managed a gentle nod.

"Yeah…we ate out and hung out with Rachel for a while…" Dana beamed when she heard this.

"Wonderful! It's important to spend time with friends! Friends are a rare treasure."

So prim and proper! I've _never_ heard Dana talk like this before! Not to say Dana was always vulgar and crude but this…this didn't feel natural. Chloe clearly thought so too and decided to poke the bear.

"So how about you?" she asked. "You and Trevor enjoy that new video game of his? Or were you only interested in the 'joystick' in his pants?"

Dana's smile swiftly disappeared. Her face reddened and she frowned deeply, looking all huffy and offended at Chloe's question.

"How _dare_ you speak in such a vulgar tone!" she scolded Chloe. "If you must know, we did no such thing! It is improper for a young couple to have sex outside of marriage! Especially at our age! Abstinence is important! School is our priority! We instead went to the library to study!" Dana had to take a few deep breaths to calm herself before continuing. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for a study session in the chemistry lab! Good day to you both!"

She turned on her heel and stormed out of the dorm, leaving us standing like statues, frozen from the shock.

"Abstinence…is important?" I repeated in disbelief. Dana has never said anything of the sort before! I knew she slept with Logan before dating Trevor. And based on the sounds I've heard from her room some evenings, she's slept with Trevor a couple of times at least. And that's not counting how many times they might have gone at it in Trevor's room!

"What the hell did I just see?" Chloe asked, still looking down the hall where Dana stormed off.

"I have no idea…" I confessed, shaking my head. "She's acting just like…"

It hit me. She was acting like…Victoria! The _new_ Victoria! Her and her two minions! They've suddenly started acting prim and proper too! I quickly filled in Chloe on everything I saw relating to those three.

"That is some weird shit!" she agreed upon hearing it all.

"And that's not all," I went on. "I was talking to Warren before you picked me up. You know Logan the jock? He's been acting weird too."

"I know that muscle head! I doubt he can even read," Chloe joked, smirking slightly before putting her serious face back on. "I gotta see this for myself. Let's find the guy."

We went looking for Logan. He wasn't in his dorm, the football field or any of the other places we thought we'd find him.

"Maybe Warren will know where he is?" I suggested. Normally I wouldn't think a big brain like Warren would know where a muscle-head like Logan would be. But if Logan really has undergone a similar transformation, he might have a clue.

We didn't see Warren in the dorm so if he were anywhere on campus he'd likely be inside the school. Chemistry lab most likely. We checked there first.

And we found him.

Or at least someone who _looked_ like him…

In all the excitement Chloe and I completely forgot that Dana said she was on her way to a chemistry study group. Naturally it would be in the chem lab. Sure enough, Dana was there. And so was Victoria. And Logan. And Trevor and Courtney and Taylor and…Warren. Most of them were sitting at the desks, their textbooks and notebooks open as they listened to Warren read quiz questions from the textbook…in a prim and proper tone.

"Now what do we mix with this compound to get the reaction I just described?" Warren asked. He stood at the front of the class like a teacher, dressed in khaki pants and a green polo shirt. His outfit was disturbingly similar in style to everyone else's. Even Logan was dressed the same way. In fact, he was the first to raise his hand to answer the question.

"Logan?"

"Sodium!" Logan quickly said. But not in the same dimwitted tone that I had come to expect from speaking to him.

"Correct! But what happens if—"

"I'm sorry to interrupt!" Courtney suddenly interjected. "But we have more guests!"

Everyone turned and looked at us. Dana still looked a little huffy but everyone else smiled warmly at Chloe and me.

"Max! Chloe! Glad you could join us," Warren said with the same smile and disturbingly proper tone Dana and the others had. "Would you like to take a seat? We'll be happy to get you caught up to where we are. I know your friend Chloe technically isn't a student anymore but in this place of learning, all are welcome to expand their minds."

They waited for us to respond. I felt like someone just punched me in the face. Warren was perfectly normal just a few hours ago! But it got him too! Whatever "it" was! I needed to test it to be 100% certain.

"Say Warren…you still want to go to the movies with me?" I asked, slowly. "We can go to the movies and then 'Go Ape' like you've always wanted!"

I saw the look of surprise Chloe was giving me out of the corner of her eye but I ignored her. I wanted to pay careful attention to everyone's reaction. As I suspected, they all got angry just as Dana did before. Even Warren.

"Max, this is not the place to discuss such things!" he said, clearly offended. "Though a movie would be fine, that…other thing…is wholly improper for students our age! Abstinence is important."

That was all I needed to hear. It got Warren too. It got _ALL_ of them! I started to say something, I'm not sure what, but I was interrupted when I felt Chloe grab my shoulder and pull me back.

"Run!" she whispered in my ear. I didn't need to be told twice. We bolted down the hall and burst out the front door of the school. We jumped down the front steps and ran to the parking lot, stopping only when we reached Chloe's truck. We paused for a few minutes to catch our breath before unloading about this situation.

"What the FUCK was that?!" Chloe exclaimed.

"I don't know!" I replied in a panic. I didn't understand anything that was happening! So many of my friends and classmates were suddenly…changed! No way was this natural! No way could all of them have decided to change like this on their own!

"If having a stick up your butt was a contagious disease, I'd say Blackwell needs to be quarantined!" said Chloe, looking back at the school like it were a plague zone. "I'm almost more freaked out about this than what we saw in the Dark Room!"

"Chloe, please!" I said holding up my hand, not wanting to remember that awful place. But she had a point. Whatever was happening at Blackwell, it was beyond freaky and we couldn't let it keep happening.

"We've got to get to the bottom of this," I declared. "Whatever this is, we can't let it happen to any more students."

Chloe nodded in agreement, at a loss for words until suddenly she let out a soft chuckle.

"I guess we've got one last mystery to solve before we can really be at home in this new reality," she said half-jokingly. I grinned and nodded. She was right. We had a new mystery on our hands. Hopefully this one wouldn't be as dangerous as the last. We didn't have my Rewind power to fall back on this time. We had to be careful. But we had to do something to save the students of Blackwell from…whatever this was.

I stood next to Chloe and looked back at the school with her, probably just as afraid of the place as she was now. I held her hand and squeezed it. When she squeezed back, I felt some of my fear evaporate. Whatever was happening, Chloe and I still had each other. We could do this. Together.

We solved one big mystery already. We could do it again…

 _ **To be continued…**_


	3. Chapter 3

[Disclaimer]

"Life is Strange" is the property of DONTNOD Entertainment and Square-Enix

This is a work of fan-fiction and 100% non-canon

 **One Last Mystery – Chapter 3**

"We've got to get to the bottom of this. Whatever this is, we can't let it happen to any more students."

Easier said than done.

As we agreed, over the following week Chloe and I set out to solve the latest mystery to haunt the Blackwell campus. Ordinary teenagers were suddenly transforming into prim and proper "perfect" students. Or just "zombies" as Chloe started to call them. They dressed business casual, usually plain khaki pants or skirts with a polo shirt or blouse, and spoke in the clearest and most uptight tones imaginable. Unless you said or did something they considered improper, such as talking about sex, they were always very kind and very polite. Many of them lost interest in their old activities like partying or playing video games and instead focused all their time on studying or participating in different self-improvement programs that rapidly popped up. Kate's Bible study group almost tripled in size overnight. I would walk through the campus courtyard and see a large group of them sitting in the grass and listening intently to Kate quoting some passage from the Bible.

It was only a handful of students at first. But each day their numbers swelled. I spied friends of mine like Daniel, Alyssa and Stella all suddenly dressing in "proper" attire and becoming more courteous and studious. I talked to a couple teachers and even Principal Wells about it. They of course all noticed the changes in their behavior but with their grades already starting to climb none of them really seemed to care what was going on.

Chloe and I were among the dwindling few that managed to avoid whatever this was. We kept our distance and our eyes opened as we searched for some clue as to what was going on. In the end, we could only come up with one theory.

"They're being brainwashed!" Chloe declared. We were hiding out in my room, pretty much the only place left on campus where we could go without being watched by so many "turned" students.

"Brainwashed," I repeated, still not sold on the idea.

"Or hypnotized or mesmerized or whatever you want to call it!" Chloe continued. "It's either that or a real-life case of _Invasion of the Body Snatchers!_ Nothing else makes sense!"

As incredulous as I thought the idea was, Chloe had a point. Nothing else made sense. In the end we agreed. Someone or something was slowly brainwashing the entire Blackwell student body. By this point pretty all my friends had fallen victim. More and more I saw students I didn't know were being turned too. Chloe and I needed to stop it but we hit a dead end. Our observations weren't yielding anything really useful. Just disturbing. We were still no closer to finding out who was behind this than when we started.

"We're missing something. Some common thread…" I said as I paced around my dorm room. Chloe sat on my bed with my laptop in her lap, tapping away on the keys as she looked up brainwashing and hypnosis on the internet.

"All kinds of stuff out there on how to hypnotize people…" Chloe said, her brow furrowing as she scrolled through page after page. "But all of it is for kinky stuff. I'm not seeing any 'How To' manuals on turning teens into perfect zombie students."

"That'd be too easy," I said, half joking and half disappointed. If we could find something like that it could give us a clue as to how to undo it.

The zombie students all followed similar patterns. Eating, sleeping, studying and attending self-improvement groups. I tried spying on a few of them but they almost put me to sleep, they were so dull. We gave up on finding on clues following the zombies and focused on following some of the non-brainwashed students. In a way we were using them as bait, hoping that we'd see someone snatch one of them up and take them to some secret hypnosis lair. But there were too many students at Blackwell to keep track of them all. We were constantly shifting our focus to find the right person at the right time. But all too often whenever we stopped watching someone, they became the next victim.

"Maybe we're thinking about this the wrong way," Chloe suggested. "I've seen movies where they're tracking a plague and the first thing they always do is look for Patient Zero. The first person to be infected. You have any idea who the first person to have their brain scrambled was?"

"Victoria," I said immediately. "She was the first one I noticed. But is she the first victim…or is she the mastermind?"

It was a very good question. Chloe didn't have an answer for me. But the more we thought about it, the more it made sense. I remembered the day I first saw Victoria like this. Taylor was just as freaked about it as I was. But later that day I saw her come out of Victoria's room acting…odd.

Victoria was definitely involved. We needed to find out how deeply.

"I think I know our next stop then," Chloe said with a mischievous grin. I followed her out into the hall and we crept over to Victoria's door. Chloe gave it a gentle knock and pressed her ear against it.

"…No movement," she whispered. "Guess no one's home." Chloe tried the door handle and to our surprise it was unlocked. Guess this new Victoria is much more trusting than the old one.

We hurried inside and looked around. If Victoria was really involved then we had to find some clue as to the extent. The first thing I noticed was how much her room had changed since I was last here. Granted it was in the other reality but I would still think her room would be the same. Once the walls were decorated pictures and selfies, her closet filled with expensive clothes and jewelry scattered around her bedside table. But now all the selfies were gone, replaced but rather stunning scenery pictures or group shots of Victoria with her new brainwashed posse. Her jewelry was gone and so were here expensive clothes, now replaced by her simpler wardrobe. Several boxes were stacked neatly in a corner and upon examination we found all her old clothes and pictures inside.

"I don't know what kind of hypnosis they're using on these people but _damn_ it's potent!" Chloe said incredulously, holding up one of Victoria's expensive dresses and glancing back and forth between it and the cheaper skirts in her closet. It was true. Victoria treasured her wardrobe very highly. To make her give it all up like this they must have worked her brain over good and hard. Assuming someone else did this to her. It was feasible that she did it to herself for whatever reason. Then decided to do it to others? I don't know.

Searching the boxes proved fruitless so we split up and searched the rest of the room. We checked all the obvious hiding places and stretched into less obvious ones. We checked in her drawers and under bed and even opened all her books to make sure none were hollow. We weren't sure what we were looking for but we knew to be thorough. I sat down at Victoria's laptop while Chloe grumpily put Victoria's books back on her shelf. We had gone over every inch of her room and found nothing. Hopefully her laptop would be different.

No such luck. Her recent browser history was nothing but educational sites and college applications. Her calendar wasn't much help either. Classes, study groups, club meetings…in fact the only thing slightly out of place was an unmarked appointment every week just before curfew. I was about to click on it when Chloe suddenly said, "Hey!"

I looked over and saw Chloe digging through Victoria's wastebasket. She pulled out what looked like a receipt and scanned it, her eyes twinkling with a spark of hope.

"This might be something," she said, handing it to me. I took it and looked at it. It was a receipt from a local clothing store. Apparently the one where Victoria bought her entire new wardrobe.

"So?" I asked her, not sure how she found this significant.

"So!" she said exasperated. "Maybe _all_ the students are getting their clothes here! There might be something there!"

"What, you think this clothing store is hypnotizing people to drive up sales or something?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I'm not assuming any damn thing right now. But I'm not finding any other clues. We should check it out."

Chloe was right again. It was the closest thing we had to a lead and it was worth investigating. I closed everything on the laptop and we snuck out. We hurried to Chloe's truck and zoomed off to the store.

It was a local Mom and Pop clothing store. Nothing fancy but in a small town like this it filled the need. Chloe and I strolled on in, pretending to be customers. The store clerk, a young man in his early twenties, greeted and smiled at us when we entered. We smiled back and proceeded to wander around the story, pretending to look at stuff. Overall the place had a very conservative selection of clothes. Chloe and even I looked a little out of place in here but this was definitely the place where everyone got their clothes. But was it anything more than that?

After fifteen minutes of pretend browsing we met on the far side of the store out of the clerk's earshot to compare notes.

"I can't find anything," I whispered. "Have you?"

"Nada," Chloe replied, very disappointed. "I searched every shelf and even the changing rooms, save the one that's occupied right now. But I didn't see anything suspicious."

My face fell. I knew it was a longshot but I was still hopeful. I looked over Chloe's shoulder at the clerk who was watching us. I'm sure by now he was getting suspicious of us. Maybe he could provide some answers? I left Chloe behind next to the dressing rooms and casually strolled over. I smiled and leaned on the counter to talk to the guy.

"Got a lot of nice clothes here," I said.

"Thank you," the clerk replied, smiling back.

"You know a lot of my friends have told me this is the best place in Arcadia Bay to get a nice outfit."

"You from Blackwell, I'm guessing?"

I perked up a bit. "Yeah. You see a lot of Blackwell students here?"

"These days? Constantly. Before I used to see only one or two. You know Kate Marsh?"

"Yeah, she's a good friend of mine."

"She came in here all the time. Our inventory is more her taste. But the past couple weeks this place has been a revolving door of new Blackwell students. I don't know if it's some new fashion fad or something but my boss isn't complaining!"

He laughed. I forced another smile but inside I was frowning. This guy didn't know anything. He was just as confused about it as I was.

"Who exactly were the first—" I started to ask until I was interrupted by an earsplitting scream.

"RACHEL! NO!"

It was Chloe! I hurried back to her and froze in my tracks when I saw who was with her. It was Rachel. And judging from her clothes, she was brainwashed too.

Rachel was evidently the one who was in the occupied fitting room. She wore a khaki skirt and red polo shirt with the familiar hypnotized smile and dim eyes. Chloe was grabbing Rachel's shoulders tightly and sobbing as she looked at her dear friend.

"Why Chloe! What on earth is the matter?!" asked Rachel in that horrifying proper tone.

"No! Not you! Not you too!" Chloe sobbed. I didn't know what to say. I should have guessed Rachel would be targeted eventually. I guess I figured we'd solve this before they got her?

Chloe's breathing was shaky between sobs, unable to answer Rachel. But steadily her breathing calmed. She stopped sobbing and took deep breaths. She looked up at me with her tear-soaked eyes and I saw rage. Pure…undiluted…rage…

"VICTORIAAAAAAAAA!" she bellowed. Before I could stop her, Chloe ran out of the store.

"Chloe, wait!"

I gave chase. It was clear what Chloe was planning to do. She was going to hunt down Victoria for what happened to Rachel. I flashed back to Chloe's reaction to when we found Rachel's body in the old timeline. She wanted blood so bad. Rachel was still alive and could (hopefully) be saved but I saw the same look in her eye as when she wanted to kill Nathan. Would she kill Victoria over this? I don't know and I don't want to know. Sadly my legs are shorter than Chloe's. I wasn't able to stop her from jumping into her truck and speeding away, leaving me standing in a cloud of dirt and tire smoke.

"Chloe, NO!" I screamed as if she could hear me. But she quickly disappeared around a corner and I could hear her tires screech as she sped up.

This was bad! This was very bad! I needed to catch up to Chloe before she did something stupid! Chloe didn't have a gun in this timeline that I knew about but didn't mean she couldn't beat Victoria to death. I didn't have my Rewind anymore to stop her this time. I needed to catch up pronto!

I hurried over to the bus stop and practically danced on the spot in the hope that the Blackwell bus would show up soon. But after a while I checked my watch and sighed loudly in exasperation. If I was remembering the bus schedule correctly, I already missed it by a good ten minutes. I needed to find another ride!

Took me a while but I eventually found one. I ran into a police officer whom I had chatted with at the Two Whales on a couple of occasions. I made up a story about a friend of mine needing my help badly on a school project and that I needed to get back to Blackwell ASAP. He was a bit skeptical but ultimately he agreed to give me a lift. He refused to turn on the sirens to give me an express ride so I had to endure a 25mph trip all the way back to school. Chloe had to have been pushing 50 so she had one hell of a head start.

Once at the school I quickly thanked the officer and jumped out. I vaguely remembered Victoria's schedule saying that she'd be studying history with a study group right about now. I hurried into the school and found Victoria and her group in the history classroom. But no Chloe.

"Where is she?!" I demanded. Everyone looked up at me in surprise at my outburst.

"Where is who, Max?" Victoria asked innocently.

"Don't play dumb!" I growled. "Chloe! Chloe Price! Where is she?!"

My anger surprised even me. But this was Chloe we were talking about. I needed to make sure she was OK. Victoria's eyes lit up with recognition when I said her name.

"Oh! Chloe! Yes, she came by my room earlier. She seemed very upset," Victoria explained innocently. "We had a very nice chat. It was a pleasant conversation. Then we parted ways. I believe she said was on her way home. She might be there by now?"

Everyone around Victoria smiled at her story, clearly pleased that her encounter with Chloe ended seemingly peacefully. But I was horrified. I slowly backed away from them all, looking at all the empty eyes staring back at me.

"No way…" I breathed. The odds of Chloe and Victoria having anything resembling a "pleasant conversation" was less than zero. There was only one way it could have ended in any other way but violently.

I ran out of the school, my heart racing and my chest tightening from terror. I needed to find Chloe! NOW! I quickly checked the parking lot. Her truck wasn't there. She had to have left already. Sadly so had the officer so I couldn't hitch a ride with him again. This time I really had to wait for the bus.

The wait was unbearably long. I jumped onto the bus when it finally showed up and wrung my hands as it drove through town. Only a few other students were there with me. All brainwashed from the looks of their clothes. I really _was_ in a bus full of zombies. But I tried my best to ignore them and focus on Chloe. I felt like I did after I rescued William, riding the bus to Chloe's house to make sure that he and Chloe were alive and well in that timeline. I just prayed that I did not get my heart broken again like I did last time.

I ran as fast as I could the rest of the way to Chloe's house after the bus dropped me off. I saw Chloe's truck parked outside and burst into the house without knocking. I ran up the steps and almost knocked down her bedroom door to find her.

"CHLOE!" I screamed.

"Yes, Max?" she asked politely.

My worst fears were confirmed. There Chloe stood, wearing a khaki skirt and blue polo shirt the same color as her hair and greeting me with the same smile that haunted me all around the campus. Chloe's room was in a state of disarray. More so than usual. But only because it looked like she was cleaning up. All her punk rock posters were already taken down. Her CDs and DVDs were lined up neatly on a shelf. Her bed was nicely made and there Chloe stood in the middle of it all holding a box already filled to the brim with several of her punk shirts, posters and other items.

"Chloe! NOOOOOO-ho-hoooooooo…" I sobbed. Chloe put her box down and walked over to me.

"Max! What is wrong? Have I done something to upset you?" she asked innocently. I looked into her eyes. The beautiful eyes that I loved so much…now looking at me with that horrible emptiness.

"Chloe…what are you DOING?!" I shrieked, motioning around her room. Chloe realized what I was referring to and nodded.

"Ah yes. I had a long talk with your friend Victoria and I realized it is time I clean up my act. It is time I put away childish things and begin acting like an adult. If I'm lucky perhaps they'll let me back into Blackwell to finish my last year. Victoria was very kind and offered to put in a good word for me with Principal Wells."

"CHLOE!" I shrieked. "Victoria has BRAINWASHED YOU!"

Chloe laughed at that. "Nonsense, Max! I am in complete control of my mind. I see now we were wrong about everyone. There is no mass hypnosis going on at the school or anything. Everyone has just seen the light, so to speak. It's time we prepare ourselves to be good, wholesome, law-abiding adults…"

She turned away from me and went back to cleaning up her room. I watched her pick up her dirty laundry and put it neatly in a duffle bug. "Must get these washed," I heard her mumble. Then she went back to filling the box with her other punk items.

Chloe cleaned her room…while I just wanted to die.

Chloe…my Chloe…had been taken from me.

"Chloe…" I sobbed. She straightened up and looked at me.

"Yes, Max?"

Slowly I approached her, my hands outstretched. She looked at my hands and at me, confused as to what I was planning to do.

"Chloe…" I repeated. I gently rested my hands on her cheeks. I saw her lips. Her beautiful lips. I wanted to kiss them again. To let the real Chloe know, wherever she was inside her, that I was going to make this right. I would rescue her. But first I just needed to…

I leaned in to kiss her. But just as I was an inch from my goal, I felt her fingers on my lips pushing me back.

"Chloe?" I said dismally. Chloe looked solemn. She turned her eyes away from me for a moment, a hint of redness in her face. When she turned back she looked me in the eye and spoke calmly but forcefully.

"Max Caulfield…I love you. I really do. But it is improper for us to have any sort of relationship at this time. Abstinence is important. School takes priority." Chloe paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I am sorry Max but…I think we should just be friends for now."

My heart shattered. Chloe, the one person I loved more than any other, the person I almost ripped time and reality apart to save, was turning me away. Even though I knew it wasn't the _real_ Chloe saying these things, it still hurt. I pushed Chloe away and ran out of the house sobbing. I ran past her truck and down the street. I wanted to run and keep running forever. Anything to get away from all this.

But I couldn't run away.

Not if I wanted to save Chloe. If I wanted to save _everyone_.

Everyone needed my help. And if I didn't save them…who would?

It was getting dark by the time I got back to Blackwell. I hid in the bushes across from the dorm by the Tobanga statue. I didn't dare go inside. Going anywhere near Victoria right now was a very, very, VERY bad idea. Though Chloe had a good head start on me, it wasn't THAT long before I caught up with her! In a very short time Victoria was somehow able to brainwash Chloe too. What if she did the same to me? Then everyone would be truly loss.

"What do I do…?" I sobbed. Without Chloe to help me brainstorm, I had no idea what my next step would be. Should I try sneaking into Victoria's room again? We must have missed something. Or she brought something in with her. Whatever she's using on all the students Victoria likely carries with her. Maybe if I sneak in while she's sleeping I'll be able to find it?

I held my breath when I heard the front door of the dorm open. I saw Courtney and Taylor come walking out. Neither of them said a word as they strolled across the courtyard, looking more zombie-like than usual, their arms straight at their sides and their eyes always looking straight ahead. I watched them walk by and disappear as they headed towards the school building.

"What was that about?" I wondered.

Moments later the door opened again. This time I saw Logan and Zachery. They walked across the courtyard, following the exact same path Courtney and Taylor did. Next Juliet came out and followed the same path. Then Warren. Then several other students came filing out.

"What the hell?" I mumbled. I was about to come out of hiding to investigate when Victoria came out next. I hid again and watched her carefully as she followed everyone else, seemingly in the same zombie-mode.

"Where the hell are they going?" I wondered. I checked my watch. It wouldn't be long until curfew took effect. Very strange for people brainwashed to obey the rules to risk violating…

 _It was almost curfew._

That fact rang in my head like a bell. I suddenly remembered something I saw on Victoria's calendar. All her meetings and appointments were clearly labeled, save one. It was for a half-hour period before curfew took effect. The next one was for tonight. Chloe's clothing store idea derailed my train of thought from this fact and I forgot all about it. Something fishy was going on here. It may be the lead that I was waiting for.

I followed Victoria, moving as quickly and quietly as I could. I hid at every opportunity in case she suddenly turned around but she never did. She was too fixated on where she was going. Which was the gym. I saw Victoria and several others file inside. When the last of them was in, I snuck in after them.

I immediately ducked behind a stack of exercise mats. I waited a few moments to make sure no one saw me before I poked my head out. The gym was dimly lit but I could still make out activity on the far side. A stage had been erected along with a number of chairs like for some school assembly. I counted maybe thirty students overall. Definitely not the entire Blackwell population but a good chunk of it and all of them clearly brainwashed. No one said a word as they took their seats and looked straight forward at the stage. At first only Kate was up there. She had her back turned but she looked like she was fiddling with something. When she finished she stepped aside and I saw that it was a stereo and speakers on a cart.

"Kate…poor Kate," I thought. "If she's here they must have gotten her too…"

Wasn't that surprising, really. But was there any need to brainwash her in the first place? She was always very studious and proper to begin with. But I guess Victoria wanted to be thorough. Speaking of Victoria, she soon joined Kate on the stage. She nodded at Kate as she passed her and stood in the center of the stage, looking out at the audience. Kate pressed a button on the stereo and sat in a chair next to it. After a few moments music started playing. It was a soft and heavenly instrumental tune. It was quite…soothing actually.

"Abstinence is important," Victoria suddenly declared, her voice just barely overcoming the music.

"Abstinence is important," repeated everyone in the crowd.

"School is our priority," Victoria continued.

"School is our priority," the group echoed.

"We must put away childish things."

"We must put away childish things."

"We need only the simple things."

"We need only the simple things."

"We must become good, law-abiding adults…"

"We must become good, law-abiding adults…"

Then Victoria started over with the bit about abstinence. Every word she said, the group repeated. Over…and over…and over again…

"What the hell is this…?" I mumbled. It looked like some kind of group hypnosis. But if they were already brainwashed, why do this?

"Maybe it needs to be…refreshed or something every now and then?" I pondered. That made sense. Perhaps the hypnosis wasn't permanent. If left alone long enough it would wear off. Victoria must be arranging these mass hypnosis sessions to renew it from time to time. But something still felt off. I didn't know much about hypnosis but I didn't think just repeating these words would hypnotize them like this. Something else must be triggering it…

I watched and waited for a long time to try and figure everything out. But the longer I listened the more…compelling Victoria's words seemed to become. There was nothing actually _wrong_ with what she was saying. Teenagers like us really should be giving our schoolwork priority. Other things could wait. They could wait until we had all become good, law-abiding adults. Victoria's words mixed with the music and I felt myself drowning in them…

 _The music._

Suddenly it hit me. It was the music! The music was the hypnotic trigger! Subliminal hypnosis! I had seen it in movies where they put hidden images in videos or barely audible messages in audio recordings to quietly brainwash whoever watched or listened to them! Nothing else made sense!

"Oh God!" I gasped. "How long have I been listening?!"

I had to get out of there! My head was starting to feel a little fuzzy. I had to get out of there before I was influenced too much!

I bolted from my hiding place and burst through the door. Now that I knew how Victoria was doing it, I could go back to my dorm room and start researching a cure! I could save everyone! I could save Chloe! I could—

"OOF!"

I barely made it out the door when I ran headlong into someone. We both tumbled to the ground and as soon as I had my bearings I instinctively started apologizing.

"I'm sorry! So sorry," I said. "I'm in a hurry!"

"A hurry to where, Max? I think you're _exactly_ where you need to be…"

I blinked. It took me a moment to realize that the person I ran into was…Chloe.

"Chloe? HEY!"

Next thing I knew two pairs of strong muscular arms had grabbed me and were dragging me back into the gym. I saw Chloe still sitting on the ground and smiling at me as the doors swung shut. I looked up and saw that my two captors were members of the football team. _Brainwashed_ members of the football team.

"No! No, no, no! Let me go!" I pleaded with them. My words fell on deaf ears and my attempts to pull away from them proved fruitless. They dragged me to the front of the gym where everyone was assembled. Everyone in the audience stood up and move their chairs out of the way so my captors would have a clear and direct path to the stage. When we reached it they spun me around and held me up so Victoria could clearly see me.

I gulped as I watched Victoria stare down at me with those distant, empty eyes. I expected her to say something, to gloat about my capture. But she didn't say a word and looked as much like a zombie as everyone else. In a way, this only made me angry. I was still afraid but I felt it begin to evaporate as my rage welled up inside me.

"You _bitch!_ " I growled. "I don't know why you're doing this but you won't get away with it!"

Cliché but I couldn't think of anything else to say. But still Victoria remained silent. What the hell was she waiting for? Maybe for the music to influence me more? I tried humming loudly to drown it out. I couldn't let it get to me! I couldn't let Victoria win! Not Victoria…

"Turn it off," I suddenly heard a voice say.

Finally Victoria reacted. Immediately she turned away from me and walked over to the stereo. She turned off the music and stood next to the silent speakers as though waiting further instructions.

Instructions…from Kate.

I hadn't noticed but Kate was standing behind Victoria this entire time. She slowly approached the edge of the stage and looked down at me solemnly. Up close I noticed something that I hadn't when I was hiding behind the practice mats. Kate was wearing earbuds. She pulled them out and I faintly heard music from them before she put them in her pocket. She continued to silently look at me, her expression oddly sad and her eyes…full of life?

"No way…" I breathed. It finally dawned on me. "Not… _you_ …"

Kate nodded in response. "Yes, Max. Me. Victoria isn't the one behind this. I am…"

I couldn't believe it! Kate! Sweet and adorable _Kate_ was behind this mass brainwashing?! But why?!

"It's for your own good, Max," she said after I asked this. "It's for _everyone's_ own good…"

She hopped off the stage and stood right in front of me, looking at me with pity more than anything else.

"Growing up, my parents always warned me to be wary of the evil in this world. But even with all the precautions that I took, I almost fell prey to Mr. Jefferson and Nathan Prescott…" She trembled when she said their names. Even though nothing happened to her in the end, that whole affair was still a terrifying memory.

"Such evil…I could not stand by and let such evil strike again. I saw how many of the Vortex Club were just like Nathan. Sex and drugs and things I dare not even speak about. Even if they did not become as evil as Nathan, their actions were leading them down the path to ruin. I had to save them…"

"But…Dana!" I interrupted. "Dana _saved_ you from Nathan! She wasn't a bad person! But you brainwashed her too!"

"It was for her own good!" Kate snapped. "She's already had one abortion! Yes, I know about that. And the way she kept dallying about with Trevor it was only a matter of time before it happened again! I had to save her too. Then I realized that _everyone_ at Blackwell Academy needed to be saved. Too many souls in need here. Too many…"

Kate gave everyone around her the same look of pity she gave me. She honestly thought she was doing something good!

"So…you're brainwashing everyone to make them all goody-two-shoes?" I asked in disbelief.

"Simplistic but yes. If I can guide them away…put them on the right path while at Blackwell…ingrain in them proper values and moral practices during these transformative years…then it will carry into adulthood and everyone will live happy, wholesome, peaceful lives!"

Kate's expression brightened a little as she talked about her master plan. It was…commendable how she wanted to save everyone from themselves. But this wasn't the way to do it.

"Kate…you've gone crazy! You can't just brainwash people to do what you want! That's just wrong!"

"I have no choice," Kate replied coldly. "No one would listen the normal way. I know this is extreme but everyone will thank me one day. Even you…"

She snapped her fingers. Victoria rolled the cart with the stereo closer. I saw Chloe emerge from the crowd…carrying a pair of headphones.

"What are you going to do…?" I asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

"You know it's funny," Kate said, looking away from me. "I thought you were good enough that you didn't need this. But after your friend Chloe joined us she told us about your snooping. If you had left well enough alone I might not have needed to do this."

Kate looked at me again, now smiling in a soothing fashion.

"It's alright, Max. This won't hurt at all. It'll be like…falling asleep. And when you wake up again you'll feel better than you ever had in your life."

Chloe plugged in the headphones and slowly approached me, holding them out and stretching them open so she could put them on me. I panicked. I tried to pull away but the jocks holding me were too strong!

"Chloe! Chloe, please! You don't want to do this!" I pleaded, tears welling up in my eyes. But she smiled gently and met my gaze with those painfully empty eyes.

"Don't worry, Max. We're only doing what's best for you…" she said softly.

She gently started sliding the headphones onto my head.

"Just relax…"

Her voice became muffled as the headphones completely covered my ears. I saw Victoria press a button on the stereo…and music started blasting from the headphones. It was loud at first and hurt my ears but they quickly adjusted it to a tolerable volume. All other sound was blotted out as the heavenly tune from before filled my ears. The jocks held me still so I couldn't escape. I tried humming, singing and shouting to try and drown out the music but had no success. After a while I began to feel…sleepy.

"No!" I thought. "I can't go to sleep! If I go to sleep, I'm done for!"

 _Tired…so tired…_

"Can't go to sleep!"

 _Go to sleep…_

"NO!"

 _Go to sleep…_

"Mustn't go to sleep!"

 _Go to sleep…_

"I mustn't!"

 _Sleep…_

"I…mustn't…must…sleeeeeeeeep…"

 _ **To be concluded…**_


	4. Chapter 4

[Disclaimer]

"Life is Strange" is the property of DONTNOD Entertainment and Square-Enix

This is a work of fan-fiction and 100% non-canon

 **One Last Mystery – Chapter 4**

Another perfect day.

The weather this late October day is perfect. Sunny but with a brisk chill in the air as autumn settles in.

Blackwell Academy is perfect. With the exception of the odd piece of graffiti which Mr. Samuel the janitor diligently removes, the campus is in pristine condition. An absolutely perfect place where students such as myself can acquire the knowledge we need to be good, law-abiding adults.

"Now class!"

Ms. Grant turned away from the chalkboard to address her biology class students.

"Who can tell me how many bones are in the human body?" she asked. It was a simple question but she needed to make sure her students knew it. Immediately every hand went up. Every single one of her students wished to answer her question. Including me. Ms. Grant seemed surprised but also very pleased. She struggled for a few moments to decide who to pick before settling on one.

"How about…Miss Caulfield?"

All hands went down and I, Max Caulfield, wearing a pink polo shirt and khaki skirt, stood up and smiled at Ms. Grant before giving her my answer.

"The human body contains 270 bones at birth. However as the body matures numerous bones fuse together, reducing the number to 206 bones by the time the person reaches adulthood." I spoke clearly and intelligently, something that was expected of me as a Blackwell student.

"Very good, Max! That's correct."

I smiled and quietly resumed my seat, picking up my pencil and watching Ms. Grant with 100% focus.

"Now I'm sure all of you are familiar with that old song about how different bones connect to one another," Ms. Grant went on. "Can any of you tell me the name of a bone that _isn't_ connected to another bone?"

All hands went up again, including mine. But Ms. Grant decided it was time for someone else to answer.

"Miss Price! Do you know the answer?"

Chloe Price, sitting a few chairs behind me, stood up and smiled. She was dressed in a blue polo shirt and khaki skirt again. But one noticeable difference was that her hair was no longer blue. A full week of careful washing had gotten it all out and returned her hair color to its natural shade.

"The hyoid bone, Ma'am," Chloe answered. "It is a jaw bone that is held in place by muscle but not directly connected to any other bone."

I smiled when I heard her answer. It made me so proud of her. Everyone in Blackwell started a petition last week to give Chloe another chance at Blackwell. With pretty much the entire student body signing it, Principal Wells had no choice but to accept Chloe back on a probationary basis. It nearly gave Joyce and David heart failure but in the end everyone was pleasantly surprised by her performance.

"Correct, Miss Price! Glad to see you back and doing so well," Ms. Grant complimented.

"Thank you, Ms. Grant," Chloe said before resuming her seat.

I stole a glance at Chloe before turning my attention back to Ms. Grant. I watched her pick up her pencil again and scribble down some notes before looking up. She saw me glancing at her and smiled. I smiled back. Chloe was always such a good student when we were little. It was a terrible shame she let her life fall apart for so long. But at least now she was pulling it back together. It made me so happy. It made me so proud. Chloe. My Chloe…

 _Don't think like that._

I quickly turned away and focused on Ms. Grant. I couldn't think like that. My thoughts were going down a path wholly improper for a young woman my age. I had to focus on my school work now. Only my school work…

When the bell rang we all quietly filed out of the classroom. I hurried to my locker to deposit my biology books and retrieve the books for my history class later. When I closed my locker door I found Chloe standing next to me.

"Excellent class today!" she said cheerfully. "I am so pleased to be back at Blackwell. Shame on me for wasting so many years of my life."

"We all deserve a second chance, Chloe," I replied encouragingly. "You wish to walk to our next class together?"

"Gladly!"

Chloe's next class was actually math but the classrooms were in the same part of the building. We walked down the halls side by side, diligently clutching our books and cheerfully discussing the details of our recent lessons. Chloe discussed her renewed interest in chemistry. Perhaps she'll become a chemist when she graduates? I still wished to pursue my career in photography. Perhaps after Blackwell I'll take a year off from school to—

 _You must go to college._

But then again, school is vital. A year working might be valuable but nothing could replace a college degree. Best not to delay it.

I must have appeared distracted as we discussed college because Chloe asked me what was wrong. Before I could answer someone bumped me and knocked the books out of my arms.

"I'm so sorry!" he said. He was a student I had seen around the halls but didn't know his name. He politely stopped to help Chloe and I pick up my scattered school books and papers before hurrying on, insisting that he was late for his next class. I was mildly annoyed but also understanding. Punctuality is very important! But he still left me with a bit of a mess. All my papers were neat and organized before. Now they were all mixed up. Fortunately Chloe was there to help me sort them out.

"Which of these two pages come first?" she asked.

"They should be numbered."

"Oh! I see now."

She sorted them and handed them back to me. As I grabbed the pages, my thumb touched hers on top of the stack…and we froze. I don't know if I was waiting for her to let go of the pages or if she was waiting for me to pull them away. But both of us stared at the pages for a long time before both our gazes shifted to our thumbs. A strange sensation overcame me. I felt…scared? Happy? Nervous? Relaxed? Somehow I felt all these contradictory emotions all at once. These feelings only intensified as Chloe gently stroked my thumb with hers…

 _This is inappropriate._

Chloe let go of the pages and I pulled them away. I quickly stuffed them in my notebook, struggling not to appear too embarrassed. What we were doing was highly inappropriate! Judging from the redness in Chloe's cheeks and her evasive gaze, she thought so too. Shame on us!

"Max? Chloe?"

We turned when we heard our names and saw Kate approach us. Whatever confusion or embarrassment I felt was washed away by her presence. Kate is so wonderful! When she is around everything felt so…right.

"Are you two feeling alright?" she asked us, her eyes darting back and forth between us. We both smiled and nodded.

"Of course!" Chloe answered in her cheerful tone.

"We're both fine. We were just sorting some papers that I dropped," I added. Kate's eyes narrowed.

"Looked like something more was going on than that. Something…inappropriate."

 _Inappropriate…inappropriate…inappropriate…_

Kate's words echoed in my head until Chloe and I both hung our heads in shame.

"We're sorry, Kate," I said solemnly. "We had a moment of…something. But it won't be repeated. I swear."

"We swear!" Chloe chimed in.

I suddenly felt very strange again. Though different than before. Why was I apologizing to Kate about this? She wasn't—

 _Kate is right. Kate is always right._

Kate's judgment is always right, I reminded myself. We all needed to trust Kate's judgment in matters like these. If we feel we need to apologize, it is for good reason.

Kate was silent for a while and appeared very skeptical of our statements. But then she smiled. "Max, Chloe, I think you both should attend my study group tonight," she declared. "It starts at 6pm in the courtyard outside the dorm. We'll be reviewing for the history exam next week so be sure to bring your history notes."

"History?" I repeated.

"Tonight?" said Chloe. We both glanced at each other.

"Actually tonight Chloe was going to come by my dorm room so we could review some math," I explained.

"That's right. I'm still very behind on a lot of things and Max offered to help me catch up. Besides, 6pm is awfully close to the 7pm curfew. I don't think we should be out so close—"

"You will both attend the study group tonight," Kate interrupted sternly.

 _You will both attend the study group tonight. You will both attend the study group tonight._

"Of course, Kate," Chloe confirmed.

"You're right, of course," I concurred. "We can go over math tomorrow night."

Kate smiled. "Good. It's been a week but I think I need to keep an eye on you two for just a little while longer…" I wasn't sure what Kate was referring to or why she felt she needed to watch us but I was sure Kate had good reason. "Will you two be attending the Halloween party this Sunday night?" Kate asked, changing the subject. We both perked up.

"Oh yes! I'm looking forward to it," I answered giddily.

"So am I! I've already got a costume all picked out," Chloe said, almost jumping up and down. But Kate shook her head.

"There will be no costumes this time. It will be a simple affair with all of us enjoying some apple juice, fruit, vegetables and each other's company. With some pleasant music, of course."

We were a bit disappointed that costumes weren't allowed but we understood. We bid Kate farewell and hurried to our next classes, just barely making it before the bell rang.

That dusk, Chloe and I met with Kate and her study group at exactly 6:00 PM. Punctuality is important! Besides the three of us the group consisted of Victoria, Courtney, Taylor, Rachel, Warren, Dana, Juliet, Zachery and Logan. We all immediately dove into our textbooks, reviewing what we had covered in class recently and quizzing each other on every subject. It was a very productive session, if I do say so myself. I didn't realize how much I really did need to review this material. Kate was right. But then Kate is _always_ right.

Speaking of Kate, I noticed she seemed to be a little unsettled. She kept checking her watch and glancing around at the group. I checked my own watch. It was 6:29 PM. We still had 31 whole minutes before we had to worry about violating curfew.

"Kate? What's the matter?" I asked her. She ignored me and checked her watch again, this time keeping her eyes on it and mumbling a countdown.

"5…4…3…2…1…"

Her watch beeped. My own watch beeped for some reason. When did I set it for 6:30 PM? So did Chloe's. And Victoria's. And everyone's.

 _Time for a meeting._

I stood up. I saw my fellow students do the same before I turned away and marched down the path. I heard them all following right behind me but I did not turn back. It was time for a meeting. A very important meeting. I couldn't be late.

We exited the dorm courtyard and entered the main campus courtyard. I saw books and backpacks scattered around from study groups like my own. But all were abandoned as we all marched towards the gym for our very important meeting. Very important. Very important.

Inside the gym the stage and chairs were already arranged. I took a seat and quietly waited for the meeting to begin. The other chairs were swiftly filled and I saw Kate and Victoria step up on the stage. Kate put in some earbuds and set up a stereo while Victoria stood at the center of the stage. A moment later, music started playing.

Beautiful music.

Heavenly music…

It made me utterly relaxed. So much so that I barely heard Victoria's words.

"Abstinence is important," she stated.

"Abstinence is important," the audience repeated. I did to? I honestly wasn't sure.

"School is our priority," Victoria continued.

"School is our priority," we echoed.

"We must put away childish things."

"We must put away childish things."

"We need only the simple things."

"We need only the simple things."

"We must become good, law-abiding adults…"

"We must become good, law-abiding adults…"

Time seemed to disappear as I listened to Victoria and the music. I found myself growing more…confident. Sure of myself. I felt like I knew _exactly_ what was important in life right now. What I needed to focus on. School. Abstinence. The simple things. Being a good, law-abiding adult. Those were the important things. Those were all that mattered…

"Meeting adjourned!"

I snapped out of my stupor. The music was turned off and I saw Kate removing her earbuds. Victoria and everyone else was filing out of the gym. I checked my watch and gasped when I saw that it was almost 7:00 PM! Curfew was about to begin! I had to get back to the dorm!

 _ **The Next Day…**_

It's Saturday! You know what that means? Study time!

The Blackwell library was very lively but still very quiet as many of us packed inside to review and reinforce the lessons from the following week. Chloe still lives at home but she came back to Blackwell first thing to join us. I stayed by her side throughout to keep an eye on her progress.

"What's the circumference of this circle?" I quizzed.

"Um…" Chloe had to ponder this. "Is it…sixteen?"

"Correct!"

There was a brief and soft applause from the others sitting at the table. Chloe beamed with pride as she counted her right and wrong answers and realized that she had gotten almost all of them right! She was well on her way to catching up with the rest of her classmates. She still had a ways to go though. That's why the two of us decided to continue our studying back at Chloe's place after the library closed for the day.

This was after a strangely awkward meal with Joyce and David of course.

Joyce was more than happy to see me when we arrived but for some reason I sensed an air of discomfort about her. Naturally I asked what was bothering her but she was evasive, insisting nothing was wrong. But her eyes betrayed her real feelings. It concerned me. I hoped nothing was wrong! This had been a wonderful and exciting day so far. It would be a terrible shame for it to end on a sour note.

David came home shortly before dinner was served. Chloe and I both greeted him warmly but we were only met with a suspicious glare and a gruff "Hmph!" I understood that David was a little…rough around the edges but this reaction felt unusually cold even from him. He avoided speaking to us the entire time we were waiting for dinner but kept his eyes on Chloe and me the whole time.

At last dinner was served. Fried chicken. A favorite of mine from when I joined them for dinner as a child. Chloe and I took our seats, thanked Joyce for such a delicious-looking meal and dove in. We had to be very careful while we ate. Fried chicken could be a very messy meal. But we picked the meat off with our knives and forks and ate elegantly. Joyce talked with David about their respective days at work while we ate. Or at least tried to. David wasn't particularly talkative tonight for some reason. He answered some of her questions but they were usually brief and curt. Eventually Joyce gave up and quietly ate as well. David was still watching us the whole time but strangely Joyce was now too. I would periodically stop to check myself to make sure I had not spilled something on my shirt. I was perfectly clean so what was the issue?

Chloe and I finished our meals and once again thanked Joyce for her fantastic cooking. Out of gratitude we offered to help her do the dishes. That was when David finally broke his silence. I don't know what about doing the dishes prompted this outburst but suddenly David slammed his fist on the table and stood up.

"Alright, little missies! I'm tired of this! What game are you two playing?!"

Chloe and I were taken aback by his outburst and exchanged confused glances.

"Father!" Chloe began. She had finally taken to addressing David as her father. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about!"

"Bullshit!" David growled. Chloe and I turned our heads and frowned at his crude language. This did not deter his angry rant. "Chloe, you went from being a punk-ass brat to a model student overnight! You and everyone at Blackwell have been giving me this same treatment! Well none of you are fooling me! You're up to something! And I'm going to find out what!"

I was speechless. David was being incredibly rude! His behavior was wholly improper for an authority figure such as him. I couldn't take it. I stood up and declared that Chloe and I were going to immediately head upstairs and resume our studies. Chloe stood up and agreed with me, quickly apologizing to her mother for not helping with the dishes. Joyce nodded but said nothing. I was very surprised she did not speak up about David's outburst. Did she actually agree with him? Regardless, Chloe and I hurried upstairs and locked her bedroom door behind us.

Chloe's room was completely transformed from what it was just a week ago. All those disgusting punk posters were gone and Chloe has been spending a couple hours every night painting over the graffiti she once had scribbled all over with a peaceful light blue. Her bed was straight and always neatly made, her desk was perfectly organized and there wasn't a single piece of dirty laundry to be found anywhere. Overall the room had been transformed just as Chloe herself was.

"Let's study!" she said cheerfully.

"Let's!"

Chloe sat at her desk and booted up her laptop while I opened our textbooks and spread our notes out across the bed. I sat there and began formulating quiz questions to give to Chloe to help her get back up to speed on her lessons. While doing so, I had a strange thought nagging at me that I couldn't push out of my mind.

"Do you think we should invite Kate to join us?"

Chloe was hunched over her computer when I asked that. When she heard it she stopped typing and straightened up. Slowly she turned to face me and her eyes…her eyes had a peculiar look to them. I want to say she was simply confused but it was as if something deeper was running behind those eyes.

"…Why?" she eventually asked. I had to think long and hard on this myself. Why did I suddenly feel compelled to call Kate and invite her over?

"Because…" I started, still not sure how to finish. "Because…Kate said she wanted to keep an eye on us? Should we call her hear so she…can?"

My head felt very funny. It felt like some conflict was raging inside my skull between two forces I couldn't see or understand. It was giving me a headache. It only broke when Chloe responded.

"…Why would she need to? We're not doing anything inappropriate. We're not…" Her voice trailed off. Her gaze met mine. I stared into her beautiful eyes and—

 _INAPPROPRIATE._

I looked away. No inappropriate thoughts during study time! Or any time until college was finished.

"You're right. We don't need to call her," I said resolutely. "We're not doing anything inappropriate."

"We're not doing anything inappropriate," Chloe repeated.

We went back to work.

An hour later, just as the sun was beginning to set, Chloe and I sat on the bed together as we went over our geometry homework. Though quietly I wondered if we should be doing so. I'm not talking about the homework of course. I'm talking about sitting on the bed together. In such close proximity. I felt a strange tension between us, one I feared was drawing close to being inappropriate.

 _NO INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR._

I was struggling. But it was hard. Chloe seemed uneasy too. Was she feeling the same way? I wanted to ask her but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Maybe…I was afraid of the answer? I forced myself to focus on homework. But this only heightened my frustration as I struggled to draw a proper circle.

"Why can't I get this right?" I mumbled. Chloe must have heard me because she chuckled.

"Here, like this." She took my hand and guided it to help me draw a better circle. Chloe was really good at drawing circles freehand. Wasn't absolutely perfect but better than mine. She guided my hand around the page until I had a nicely formed circle drawn. Perfect for my calculations.

"Thank you, Chloe."

"You're welcome…Max…"

I expected Chloe to take her hand away.

But she wouldn't let go.

She kept a firm grip on my writing hand. And squeezed it harder.

"Chloe…" I breathed, not sure what she was doing. Or what to think.

 _INAPPROPRIATE!_

This was inappropriate, of course. But for some reason…I didn't want Chloe to let go.

I dropped my pencil. I twisted my hand around in hers so that we could lock fingers and properly hold hands.

 _INAPPROPRIATE!_

I looked in her eyes. Chloe's…beautiful…eyes…

 _INAPPROPRIATE!_

I tore away my gaze from her eyes…and settled on her lips. Her perfect lips…

 _INAPPROPRIATE! LOOK AWAY!_

I couldn't look away. I found myself leaning closer to Chloe, constantly pausing like a car with a stalling engine thanks to a painful conflict in my head that gave me a throbbing headache. Chloe seemed to be undergoing a similar struggle. But it did not deter her from leaning closer as well.

I could feel her hot breath on my face.

 _INAPPROPRIATE!_

I puckered my lips as we drew closer.

 _DON'T DO IT!_

I closed my eyes…

 _STOP!_

And we kissed.

Our lips touched…and I woke up. I felt Chloe's warm, delicious lips pressed against mine and I moaned happily as I wrapped my arms around her neck. Chloe grunted as she pushed me onto the bed, keeping her lips locked with mine. She knelt on top of me and held my face in her hands as we made out.

We kissed…and my heart exploded with all the love and admiration I had for Chloe. All the feelings that were under lock and key in my heart for the past week came gushing out. I held Chloe close and quietly begged her never to stop.

Don't stop, Chloe.

Please don't stop…

Sadly she did. After a while she sat up and smiled at me, her expression glowing with happiness and love.

"Max…" she breathed, her hands trembling as she held my face. But the moment was broken when her expression turned sour. She straightened up and let go of my face. She looked at herself, at her clothing, with utter loathing and disgust.

"What am I WEARING?!" she shrieked.

I blinked. It took me a moment to realize that Chloe was dressed like she was going to Sunday school. To my shock, so was I!

"What the?!" I exclaimed. Chloe jumped off of me and I stood up. I looked myself over and picked at the clothes that were obviously not to my taste. So why was I…?

"Oh God…" I gasped. It was flooding back. Victoria. The brainwashed students. Kate. Kate was behind it all. And she did it to us…

"We're free…" I mumbled. "Are we…free? Did we break the…'spell' or whatever the hell it was?"

From the look on Chloe's face it was clear that she was remembering everything too. She shrugged at my question and said, "I _think_ so. I doubt we'd be having this conversation if we didn't!"

She started to laugh until her expression turned sour again.

"Wait a sec. Was it…our _kiss_ that did this?" I nodded. Seemed the most logical thing. This made Chloe roll her eyes and make a disgusted sound. "Ugh! _Please_ don't tell me we pulled one of those 'love conquers all' clichés!"

I burst out laughing. She had a point! I think we did!

"Who cares?!" I laughed. "We're free! We're not under Kate's control anymore! WE'RE FREE!"

I laughed some more and danced around the room. Chloe watched for a moment before she broke down laughing at how silly I was acting and joined me. There wasn't any music but we danced and hollered like her stereo was on full blast. We held hands and spun each other around the room, ending in a tight hug and another kiss. Afterwards we continued to embrace as we looked lovingly into each other's eyes.

"…I love you, Chloe Price…" I declared, tears welling up in my eyes.

"I love you too…Max Caulfield…" She sniffed to hold back her own tears. She brushed her hand lovingly against my cheek. Then she looked me right in the eye and said…

"Now let's go murder Kate."

She released me and went fumbling around her room. She found her car keys and tossed them to me.

"Here. Start my car while I go steal one of David's handguns again."

I blinked. It was taking me a few moments to process everything Chloe just said.

"Wait, what?" I finally said. "A handgun?"

"You're right. A handgun isn't painful enough. I think David has a _shotgun_ hidden somewhere."

She was about to walk out the door until I finally found enough of myself to stop her.

"Chloe! NO!" I grabbed her and pulled her back into the room. Chloe was not pleased.

"Don't go taking the high ground on me again, Caulfield!" she barked. "Kate needs to pay for what she's done! She not only brainwashed everyone at the school but she brainwashed _us!_ She made it so we didn't want to see each other anymore! We couldn't…we couldn't be…"

Her voice started cracking. Reliving that experience was too painful. I didn't completely disagree with her. I couldn't picture my life without Chloe ever again. But if Kate had her way, we couldn't be together until after college at the earliest. Assuming she didn't decide to insert some other programs into our heads first! What was stopping her from compelling us to become nuns and take vows of celibacy?!

"We'll get her, Chloe! But NOT like this!" I said sternly. "We're not going to become murders! That's why Kate did this in the first place. In a twisted way she was trying to stop us from becoming degenerates like Nathan or monsters like Jefferson. Do you really want to prove her right?"

Chloe always hated when I was right. The look she was giving me was a clear indication of that. But she acquiesced and slammed her door shut.

"Fine. But you're not suggesting we let this bitch get away with this?"

"Of course not! She'll be punished but first we need to save everyone else. We need her alive so she can help us cure the students. I don't think a kiss will wake everyone else up…"

"You volunteering to test that theory?" Chloe teased. I rolled my eyes and Chloe's fierce expression returned. "And just _how_ are we going to get the information we need out of Kate? She's got an army of zombies around her that will rally to protect her. She's not going to be giving up any secrets anytime soon!"

"I know…" I moaned. This would be tricky. We couldn't question her without tipping our hand. And with so many zombie students around it would be hard to find a time when she's alone. Like right about now she was probably…

Suddenly a lightbulb went on in my head. I quickly checked my watch.

"I've got an idea!" I told Chloe. "We need to get to Blackwell! Pronto!"

We jumped into Chloe's truck and zoomed to Blackwell. _Without_ one of David's guns. We parked in the parking lot and carefully walked across the campus to the dorm, doing our best to pretend like we were still brainwashed. Fortunately the campus was oddly empty so we only encountered a handful of zombies. A smile and a polite hello and they were none the wiser. We reached my floor in the dormitories and carefully looked around. All the doors were closed and quiet. They were all either out or quietly studying inside. Either way, as long as we stayed quiet ourselves we wouldn't have any problems.

"Chloe…pick this lock," I commanded. Chloe looked at the door I was pointing at and asked me why. "This is Kate's room," I told her. This made her tense up.

"Are you crazy?! What if she's in there?! What if she's got some booby trap to hypnotize anyone who walks in?!"

I rolled my eyes. "Chloe, think about it. She's got the entire school under her thumb at this point. Why would she set a booby trap? And she's not in there. I _know_ she's not in there."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Check your watch."

Chloe checked the time. "It's 6:36. So what?"

"Between 6:30 and 7:00. What is Kate usually doing during that time?" I asked, trying to lead her to the answer. Chloe's eyes quickly lit up with recollection.

"Those damn hypnosis meetings! The ones she uses to keep everyone under her thrall. She's overseeing the next one."

"Exactly! I remember a lot of what happened while we were hypnotized. Kate doesn't do the whole school at once. She rotates the schedule and does only small groups. Probably to avoid drawing too much attention. We've got a good 20 minutes before we need to worry about her coming back. Hopefully we'll find a cure for this hypnosis before then…"

Chloe relaxed and picked the lock for me. We hurried inside and locked the door again behind us. Kate's room was immaculate as always. It made her room that much easier to search. Fortunately we didn't need to search long. Kate may have locked her door but beyond that she had really let her guard down. She must have thought no one would dare break into her room to search it because everything we needed was tucked neatly away in a box under her bed.

"Damn…" Chloe said upon seeing the contents. The box was filled with all kinds of books and printouts from the internet. All of them about hypnosis and behavioral modification. "Kate went all out with this!" said Chloe with a bit of awe as she flipped through the books. I fumbled around in the box until I found a book without a title on it. Its pages were filled with handwritten text and I realized that it was her journal.

Based on the dates, Kate started this journal shortly after Nathan's attempt to drug her. Its pages detailed Kate's struggle to cope with the nightmare she narrowly avoided. She had dreams, nightmares of Nathan and Jefferson trying to capture her. Eventually Victoria and several others appeared in her dreams, not to help her but to help her assailants. She made notes about how my presence had a calming effect on her but for the most part she suffered in silence. This journal was a detailed log of her descent into madness and her eventual plan to "save" the other students from themselves. By chance she stumbled on an article on the internet about hypnosis and its use in rehabilitating prisoners, a practice that was discontinued due to moral and ethical reasons. Kate chose to build on this concept. She would use our time at Blackwell carefully, using hypnosis to embed strict moral values in our minds. The hypnosis needed to be regularly refreshed but by the time we graduated her moral values would be so deeply ingrained that she would not need to continue.

" _I must save them. I must save them. I must save them,"_ was scrawled over and over the pages between her notes on building the hypnosis song she now uses.

"…I kind of feel sorry for Kate after reading this," I confessed out loud. Chloe snorted to hold back a laugh and kept going through the box, eventually getting frustrated.

"I don't know what we're even looking for here! I doubt she's got a book in here titled _How to Undo My Crazy Hypnosis Plan_. Even if she did, it'd take forever for us to make it work."

"I don't think we'll need to. I think Kate has already done that for us," I said, idly flipping through the remaining pages of the journal.

"What makes you think that?"

"You remember those hypnosis gatherings, right? What does Kate usually do during them?"

"Sits on her ass and watch our brains melt," Chloe answered disgustedly.

"But what is she _wearing?_ " I asked pointedly. Chloe gave me a frustrated look and struggled to remember.

"Her usual blouse…skirt…sweater and…" Chloe's eyes lit up. "…Earbuds."

"Exactly!" I declared, pointing the journal at her. "Kate never acts like the zombie students. I'm guessing that she hasn't been hypnotized. My guess is that she made some counter-hypnosis song and she listens to it during the meetings to shield herself! That's what I'm trying to find…here it is!"

I pointed at a page in her diary.

"See if there's a CD in the box labeled 'Protection'!"

Kate's journal noted that such a CD existed. Chloe rifled around the box some more and eventually pulled out the CD we were looking for, her face beaming with joy and malice at the thought of striking back at Kate.

"Now let's get out of here!" she said. We quickly put everything back in the box, minus the CD, and hurried back to the truck. We needed time away from Blackwell to sort things out. We'd hide out at her place while we had a plan.

It didn't take long for us to come up with one. There was only one opportunity where we could undo Kate's plans all at once. The Halloween party the following night. Every single one of the zombie students would be there. Music would no doubt be playing so all we had to do was play this CD and everyone would be saved. Hopefully.

The hour of the party came. I stood alone outside the gym. At my insistence Chloe dropped me off at school this morning. She didn't want to leave me at Blackwell but I told her that we had to keep up the act. We couldn't risk letting Kate think we had broken our hypnosis or we'd never be able to infiltrate the party. So I returned to the school and did my level best to pretend to be part of the crowd. It was much harder than I imagined. Staying awake during the Sunday study groups was the ultimate challenge. More than once I almost nodded off but thankfully no one seemed to notice. I kept it up until everyone started to assemble for the party.

"Chloe, where are you?!" I whispered nervously as I looked up at the gym. We couldn't delay this too long! The party was starting now. If we were too late, people might get suspicious. I tightly gripped the CD case I had hidden under my polo shirt. I had to get this into the stereo, no matter what. But I was afraid to try without Chloe there.

As though in response to my thoughts, my phone beeped with a new message from Chloe.

 **Chloe:** Running late. Be there in a few

 **Max:** Chloe! I need you here! Hurry up!

 **Chloe:** Chillax. I had to get the distraction ready

 **Max:** Distraction? What distraction?

 **Chloe:** Something to keep Kate's eyes off you at the party

 **Chloe:** Head inside

 **Chloe:** You'll know when I'm there

I had a very bad feeling about this but what choice did I have but to continue? I took a deep breath and entered the gym.

When I first walked in, I thought I was stepping into a Texas hoedown rather than a Halloween party. Everyone was wearing their customary polo shirts and khakis but country music was playing and the gym was decorated with more generic Fall decorations than Halloween. Uncarved pumpkins, corncobs, stacks of hay and the like. I figured Kate wasn't much into Halloween, thus the lackluster party. But everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves as they milled around, cheerfully talked and drank…apple juice? That appeared to be the only drink they were serving at the buffet table…along with fruit and vegetable platters.

"Unbelievable! Not a single piece of candy in sight!" I thought with a frown. I had maneuvered through the crowd to grab myself a drink, thinking I'd look less suspicious with a cup in my hand. Everyone else had one. I paused to quietly rage about the lack of chocolate. How could anyone call this a Halloween party?!

"Something wrong, Max?"

I almost jumped when I heard Warren's voice. I didn't notice him approach me at all! I quickly donned a smile and assured him that I was fine in my very best "prim and proper" tone. Warren graciously offered to pour me a drink, which I accepted. I quickly scanned the crowd while he had his back turned.

"Where is Kate?" I wondered. "Where is Kate…?"

"Here you go, Max."

"Thank you, Warren. Say, is Kate around here somewhere?"

"Of course! I think she's over…there!" He pointed across the gym. Through a break in the crowd I saw Kate smiling and talking to Alyssa and Stella by the door. I must have walked right by her. I quickly turned away as I saw her gaze shift towards me. I couldn't take any chances right now. I had to avoid all contact with Kate. Even eye contact.

Warren asked if I would like to mingle with him and some of our other friends. I couldn't stay with him for too long. I had to find where the music was coming from.

"I'm afraid I can't," I politely refused. "I need to speak with Victoria. Do you know where she is?"

I couldn't see Victoria in the immediate area so I hoped to use her as an excuse to get away from Warren and explore. That stereo had to be around here someplace! But to my dismay, Warren told me Victoria was the one overseeing the music for the party. He pointed to the far side of the gym where the stage usually was. I quickly thanked him and hurried off, my frown returning as soon as I was out of his sight.

It had to be Victoria guarding the music! Being Kate's top lieutenant, I have a feeling it won't be easy to convince her to let me put the CD in. If no one was manning the music or it was someone else, maybe I could have told them Kate sent me with a new selection? But Victoria…for all I knew she might recognize the Protection CD. I needed a distraction. Something to get Victoria away from—

"CHLOE PRICE?!"

Suddenly Kate's shriek blasted over the music. Everyone turned to look at Kate, including me, before following her gaze to the door where Chloe stood…back in her punk outfits and blue hair.

"What's up, bitches?!" Chloe greeted everyone, flashing the finger at them. A wave of disgust crept over the crowd as many got mad and others looked away. Kate looked absolutely beside herself with rage and panic.

"INAPPROPRIATE!" she bellowed. "SIEZE HEEEEEERRRR!"

The word "inappropriate" acted like a trigger for the zombies around me. Their expressions went blank and they all dropped their drinks.

"Inappropriate…inappropriate…" they all started chanting. I guess that word triggered an "enforcer" mode in the zombies. They advanced on Chloe and surrounded her, grabbing her and lifting her in the air. She fought and struggled but there were simply too many of them for her to get away.

"Go!" she grunted, fighting them as they lifted her into the air. "Go!"

It took me a moment to realize that her words were aimed at me. I was so shocked by it all that I didn't realize that _this_ was the distraction Chloe had planned. And it was working! She knew showing up in her old look would get Kate's attention! She was using herself as a decoy! The crowd around me thinned to the point that I had a clear view of the stereo on a table across the gym. Even better, I saw Victoria walking away from it, her face blank and zombified like everyone else. I quickly hurried over there, the opposite direction everyone else was going. If I moved quickly, maybe I could get to it before anyone noticed me!

"Max!"

I froze. Slowly I turned and looked over my shoulder. Kate was on the far side of the mob of zombie students who were still working on restraining Chloe. But now she was standing on something, maybe a chair, so she could see over the crowd. And she saw me.

"Max!" she said again, pointing at Chloe. "Inappropriate!"

I froze. The way Kate looked at me…she knew. She knew that, like Chloe, I had broken free of her hypnosis. This was no doubt a final test to confirm it. I gulped. I was exposed. It was now or never! I turned away and dashed to the stereo. I pressed the eject button and the music stopped. The disk tray ejected and I fumbled to get the Protection CD out of my shirt and the case, all while Kate was behind me yelling.

"STOP HER! STOP HER! STOP HER!"

I almost dropped the CD in the process but I managed to swap out the CD in the disk tray. I pressed the button so it would retract. It would be a few moments before it started playing! Until then, I had a mob of zombie students to contend with. Victoria was the first to reach me. I grabbed a cup of apple juice and splashed it in her face! She cried out in pain as the juice soaked into her eyes and stumbled away. Sadly that was my only ammo and I was helpless as more zombie students swarmed me.

"No!" I cried. They lifted me into the air like they did Chloe and carried me away. The group carrying Chloe moved closer to join us.

"Chloe!" I called out to her fearfully. I reached out my hand towards her.

"Max!" She reached out her own hand. The mobs got close enough that we could hold each other's hands. We were captured…but were we defeated? Based on Kate's panicked expression, she likely saw me playing with the stereo…and guessed what I was trying to do.

"STOP THE STEREO! STOP THE STEREOOOOOO!"

Victoria was the only one still close. She had rubbed the juice out of her eyes and was currently struggling to squeeze as much of it out of her shirt as she could. When she heard Kate's command, she immediately complied. She turned to face the stereo…just as a soft, mournful tune started to play. Victoria barely seemed to notice it as she approached the stereo, the music steadily getting louder. She reached out to push the power button as the music reached a volume to be heard even over the chanting crowd. And then…she stopped.

Victoria froze, her finger touching the power button but not pressing down. Slowly the students holding Chloe and I up stopped their chanting and froze as well. I looked down. Everyone's expressions were hard to describe. It was like they were flickering back and forth between being blank and being in pain. The anti-hypnosis…was it taking effect?

"No!" I heard Kate cry. "No, no, NO!"

I heard rapid footfalls as she ran over to the stereo. She tried to push Victoria out of the way. But she stood her ground. Kate tried to push the power button herself. But Victoria tightly grasped her arm and wouldn't let go.

"Don't listen! Everyone, please don't listen!" she pleaded and struggled to pull away from Victoria.

"Whoop!" I exclaimed as the mob suddenly dropped me. I hit the floor with a loud thud and Chloe soon joined me. I rubbed my butt where I landed and looked up at the mob. Everyone…was looking confused. They were murmuring and looking at each other, clearly at a loss over where they were and what was happening. It was working! It was really working! Chloe and I exchanged triumphant looks. We had won!

"YOU BITCH!" I suddenly heard someone scream. I heard a fearful help and saw Victoria tackle Kate. Victoria was back and she was _pissed!_ She either tried to hit Kate or strangle her and Kate struggled to get away.

"I was trying to save you! Save you!" Kate cried. But Victoria would hear none of it.

"Victoria! Stop!" I yelled. I hurried over and pulled them apart. Victoria struggled to keep up her attack while Kate scooted fearfully away to escape…until she bumped into Chloe's legs. She looked up and whimpered at the cold smile she was getting from Chloe as she stood over her.

"Hiya, Kate!" Chloe greeted fiercely. "Going somewhere?"

As soon as people got their bearings they joined us in restraining Kate. It didn't take long for people to put two and two together to figure out what Kate had done to them all. And when the realization that they were now free sunk in…that's when the party REALLY started! People started cheering and shouting. Some danced to the anti-hypnosis music even though it really wasn't danceable. I saw Dana and Trevor hug and kiss. There was a loud yell and I saw Justin jump on the snack table and kick off all the food trays. He ripped off his shirt and spun it over his head, hollering like a maniac over cheers of approval from the guys and wolf whistles from the girls.

"It was Max! Max saved us!" I heard Juliet yell. Next thing I knew I was being mobbed again, this time from people patting me on the back and hugging me in thanks. Chloe somehow forced her way to my side and held my hand. Was she getting jealous? Was Chloe afraid someone would snatch me away? I grinned at the thought. Nobody could keep me away from Chloe. Not forever, at least. This whole affair was proof of that. It all made me blush. I hadn't had this much attention since I rescued Kate in the old timeline!

Speaking of Kate…

I'm not sure who came up with the idea but someone took the tablecloth from the snack table and used it as rope to tie Kate to a chair. She was watching everyone with despair as they celebrated her hard work coming undone. Her despair turned to fear as more and more people turned their attention to her. They couldn't forgive her messing with their minds like that! They were angry! They wanted revenge! I don't know what all they planned to do with her but I stepped in before they could do any harm. I stood between the crowd and Kate and held my arms out to shield her.

"Everyone, please stay calm!" I pleaded.

"To hell with that!" I saw Rachel step forward and she was _fuming!_ "After what she did to us?! You're not saying we should let her go, are you?!" Rachel's words were met with a chorus of angry yells as they all voice their agreement with her. Kate needed to be punished! But I assured her…she would be.

"Kate's actions were wrong. VERY wrong," I conceded, "But I read her journal. I understand her motives. In a very twisted way, she was trying to save us from becoming monsters like Nathan Prescott and Mark Jefferson." Mentioning those two made the crowd quiet down. They all heard rumors and stories about what the police found in the Dark Room. It gave them all pause.

"Kate will be punished," I continued, "But the _right_ way…"

I turned to face her, my face breaking out in a wicked grin that made Kate tremble.

"…The _fun_ way…"

Kate gulped and mumbled, "God! Help me!"

The following evening, the Blackwell student body celebrated with a REAL Halloween party! Everyone chipped in to buy lots of candy, we put on our best costumes, put up some real Halloween decorations and played some epic dance music! In the midst of it all, Chloe and I made sure to share a long dance…

In the days that followed, life returned to normal at Blackwell Academy. Pre-hypnosis normal. Once again teachers were baffled by the changes among the students. David hounded me and Chloe to figure out what the hell was going on but our lips were sealed. Everyone at Blackwell quietly agreed never to speak of this incident again. From now on, we would live our lives the way we wanted to. We would make our own decisions, some bad and some good, and live with the consequences. No one would make our decisions for us. Our lives were our own.

At least…most of ours were.

"WAHOO!"

"LOOK OUT!"

I almost jumped into Chloe's arms one morning in the Blackwell courtyard to avoid someone as they zoomed by on a skateboard.

"Maniac!" Chloe yelled after my would-be hit-and-run skateboarder. They ignored her and continued zooming back and forth along the pavement, occasionally doing a tre flip and doing quite well. Nearby Justin and Trevor and the rest of their skater gang, along with Dana and even Rachel, cheered at their friend's performance.

"Grind it!" Rachel laughed.

"You go girl!" cheered Dana.

"Do another one, Kate! Do another!" Trevor yelled.

Kate Marsh obliged and did another flip. She fumbled this one though and fell flat on her face. Justin hurried over to check on her but she quickly bolted up before he reached her and smiled.

"That was AWESOME!" she said with a laugh. Kate…was not at all like the Kate everyone knew before now. Her once long hair which she kept tied in a bun was now cut short so she looked more like a boy. Her immaculate, prudish wardrobe now consisted of ripped punk shirts (donated by Chloe) and dirty jeans. She gave Justin a high-five and jumped back on her skateboard for another round.

I was so engrossed in watching Kate that I didn't realize that I was still holding onto Chloe. Not that either of us minded. I went from a fearful grip into a relaxed hug and gently rested my head on Chloe's shoulder. I felt her hand gently brushing my hair as she slid her other arm around me tightly. We both smiled as we watched Kate go all around the courtyard.

This was Kate's punishment. She used her hypnosis to turn us all into the opposite of what we all were. The opposite of who _she_ was. Seemed fitting to do the same to her. For a time.

"I still think we should've done more," said Chloe, her eyes on Kate.

"Like what?"

"I don't know…how about banging all the guys on campus instead of just skating with them and smoking pot?"

"That's too cruel, Chloe. Reminds me too much of what she went through in the old timeline. What she _almost_ went through here too. I want Kate to have learned a lesson when we finally bring her out of it. I don't want her to do something now that will make her climb up a roof like last time."

"So when _do_ you plan to turn her back?"

I thought about this for a second. "Ooh...I'd say…Christmas."

Chloe snorted and laughed. She quietly went back to watching Kate while my gaze shifted to Justin and his group. Specifically I watched Dana and Trevor. I saw Dana turn to Trevor and kiss him on the cheek. She whispered something to him and whatever it was it made his eyes widen. Next thing I knew they were rushing back to the dorm.

They were giving me an idea…

I whispered something to Chloe, words I'd be too embarrassed to speak aloud. I felt Chloe's grip on me tighten when she heard them and her body tremble with excitement. She looked at me and gave me that glowing smile that I loved so much. I returned it and kissed her on the lips. Her delicious lips…

"What do you say…Chloe?" I asked seductively. Chloe responded by gripping my wrist and dragging me across the courtyard! I laughed and did my best to keep up. We passed Kate on the way. She saw us go by and stopped to whistle at us.

"Have fun, you two! Don't break the bed!" she teased.

I blushed and Chloe gave her the thumbs-up.

What is perfection?

I can't define it…but I definitely know it when I see it.

Our minds…our lives were our own again. Whatever the future had in store for us now, I was determined to face it with Chloe. We now lived in a perfect world where we could be together forever!

And we were going to make the most of it!

 _ **THE END**_


End file.
